Earlier this year, in a pivotal case regarding the application of damages caps to alleged violations of the Maryland State Constitution by state actors, one Maryland circuit court reduced the damages received by a deceased man’s estate from $11 million to just $400,000. The Facts of the Case Back in…
Earlier this week in Prince George’s County, a teen was killed when he crashed his dirt bike into a tree after running from police. The family of the teen has recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Prince George’s County, seeking $20 million in damages. According to a report by…
A series of investigations and lawsuits seek to shed light on shootings by agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency which includes the U.S. Border Patrol (BP), involving Mexican nationals located across the border on Mexican territory. Asserting civil claims over these incidents has proven difficult, both…
A DC federal judge granted a plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment in a case alleging that two Metropolitan Police Officers used unreasonable and unnecessary force against him. Jenkins v. District of Columbia, et al, opinion (D.D.C., Dec. 18, 2013). One of the defendants pleaded guilty to two counts of…
Police had no duty to assist or protect a civilian who risked his life to stop a killer on a New York subway car, according to the defendant’s arguments in Lozito v. City of New York. The plaintiff sued the city and the NYPD after a suspect wanted for several…
A wrongful death lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeks damages from the federal government for the allegedly unlawful killings of United States citizens abroad. The families of several people killed overseas by unmanned drone aircraft are claiming violations of the decedents’ constitutional rights…
A San Diego student who spent five days locked in a holding cell after agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) apparently forgot about him has sent a claim for $20 million in damages to the DEA’s general counsel in early May. The letter, a copy of which is not…
Nineteen students and alumni from the University of California at Davis have filed a lawsuit in federal court against various university administrators and police officials, including Chancellor Linda Katehi and Police Lieutenant John Pike. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is assisting them with the suit, which includes claims of…
A task force appointed to investigate an infamous case at the University of California at Davis, when a campus police officer evidently used pepper spray on a group of seated, allegedly non-violent student protesters in November 2011, has decided not to release the findings of their investigation yet. The task…