It’s been more than a year since a civil lawsuit was filed against San Joaquin County on behalf of Sebastian Hernandez — who as an infant was nearly beaten to death by his father — but attorneys hired by the county have yet to answer the complaint.
On July 1, 2025, the child’s court-appointed guardian brought the suit against the county for its alleged failure to conduct mandatory welfare duties that could have prevented the abuse. Since then, the case has remained in the pleading stage, where the county has challenged the sufficiency of the claims without answering them, and the child’s attorneys have revised their complaint three times.
Simply put, the trial hasn’t even started.
According to attorney Robert Thompson, who is representing Sebastian, the defense attorneys are playing games, resulting in the delay of a potential settlement that would fund the child’s access to better medical care and the services he now requires as a result of the assault.
“He’s going to need special housing, assistive devices,” Thompson said. “The kid’s going to need full-time care for the rest of his life.”
Dana Suntag of Herum\Crabtree\Suntag Attorneys — hired by the county for the case — said the county does not provide comment on litigation matters.
In April 2024, Roberto Hernandez allegedly beat his son Sebastian so severely that it caused acute brain injury, a crushed trachea, blood in his spinal canal, rib fractures, among other injuries, according to the complaint.
It further states that Sebastian is now “virtually blind,” cannot walk or talk and requires 24/7 medical care. Previous reports said the child was a year old at the time of the beating, but Thompson confirmed his birth to be in late October 2023, meaning he was less than 6 months old.
The complaint details how, prior to the child’s hospitalization in April 2024, social workers from the San Joaquin County Department of Child Support Services advocated for the father to gain full custody of Sebastian — even though they knew Roberto was still navigating abuse cases related to his other two children and had failed to meet reunification requirements due to substance use.
There’s a whole landmine of immunities that we have to sidestep in order to have the case go forward.
Robert Thompson, Sebastian’s attorney
About three months earlier, in January 2024, Roberto and Sebastian’s mother (who remains unnamed in public-facing court documents) were living separately and sharing custody when the county received a report of physical abuse and neglect of Sebastian.
The complaint states that welfare employees only conducted risk and safety assessments of the mother’s home, not Roberto’s.
“Employees of the county then closed (Sebastian’s) abuse and neglect report without supervisory approval,” according to the complaint, which also says that county workers associated with Roberto’s previous abuse cases “encouraged and assisted him in petitioning the Family Law Court to obtain a restraining order against (Sebastian’s) mother and seek a modification of the custody arrangement.”
Roberto was awarded full custody, then Sebastian was hospitalized, and both parents were investigated again before Roberto was arrested. He was booked into San Joaquin County Jail on July 11, 2024, where he remains awaiting arraignment currently scheduled for Aug. 24.
The third amended version of the complaint filed this June additionally alleges that county workers concealed information about Sebastian’s case from his mother, including Roberto’s previous abuse records and the fact that he wasn’t investigated in January 2024 when she was. It further alleges that Sebastian’s mother wasn’t informed that she was no longer a suspect until August 2024, a month after Roberto’s arrest.
When asked by a reporter whether Sebastian’s mother also had previous child abuse charges against her, Thompson said no and expressed confusion around why the social workers would encourage Roberto to take full custody, given his history.
“I don’t know why they encouraged or advocated for that,” Thompson said. “It’s a question that I need to find an answer for.”
Barriers to accountability
Regarding the pace of the case, Thompson said the tricky thing with government entities — particularly child protective services — is that there are many immunities the government and its employees get for certain acts or failure to act.
“So pleading these things is challenging. There’s a whole landmine of immunities that we have to sidestep in order to have the case go forward,” Thompson said. “Otherwise, the government can get the case thrown out early in the pleading stage, which is what they’re trying to do.”
As someone who has handled several child welfare cases, Thompson says the system nationwide is failing children — overworked employees checking boxes to cover themselves without getting eyes on children suspected to be in danger of abuse.
“These county agencies are not living up to their mandatory duties and their obligations under the law and as a result, kids are dying or getting sexually abused or physically abused,” he said.