Anaheim will pay $250,000 to a woman who says a routine Hyundai purchase at a local dealership spiraled into a wrongful arrest and a felony case. Her federal lawsuit claims police turned what should have been a civil sales dispute into a criminal investigation, entered the car into the state Stolen Vehicle System, and seized it, a sequence she says cost her a job and left her staring down serious charges. The case surfaced on the City Council’s July 14 closed-session agenda before the settlement was signed off.
Settlement, attorney response
According to the Los Angeles Times, attorneys for plaintiff Deja Bush said the city agreed to the $250,000 payout shortly after the lawsuit appeared on the council agenda. "Police are not supposed to pursue people based on what is a civil dispute," attorney Daniel "Sparky" Abraham told the paper, framing the case as an example of what can happen when contract trouble gets treated like a crime.
The federal docket
Court records show the civil rights lawsuit was first filed, then moved to federal court in mid-2025. The case is listed as No. 8:25-cv-01562, with Abraham and Jacob Loup identified as counsel. The publicly available docket on Justia Dockets & Filings details a full slate of mediation and trial deadlines that had been set before the parties ultimately settled.
Council paperwork shows review
The City of Anaheim’s July 14 meeting agenda lists "Deja Bush v. City of Anaheim" under closed session, confirming that council members took up the litigation behind closed doors in the standard way for pending legal matters. The timing and description of the item are laid out in the online meeting materials from the City of Anaheim.
What the complaint says
According to court filings attached to the federal docket, the dealership reported Bush’s Hyundai as stolen after claiming she had misrepresented her income. An Anaheim detective then allegedly entered the vehicle into the Stolen Vehicle System with a notation tying it to "another violent crime" and naming a suspect. The complaint also alleges the dealership had made more than a dozen similar reports since 2021 and that Anaheim officers responded to dealership stolen-vehicle calls about 135 times during that period, based on figures cited in the filings. Those allegations sit at the heart of Bush’s civil claims against the city and individual officers.
Legal fallout and next steps
Bush contends the car seizure cost her a job and left her facing felony counts that could have carried up to three years in custody. Prosecutors later dropped the criminal case in January 2025, according to the Los Angeles Times. The settlement ends her federal claims against the city without any admission of wrongdoing, while Bush continues to pursue a separate lawsuit against the dealership in Los Angeles County court alleging it filed a false police report.
