Now that we have established that you have a police brutality civil rights case, the next question is: how much is my case worth?
This is the hardest question to answer. Everyone thinks their case is worth a million bucks, but most cases aren’t worth close to that amount. Also, in some cases, people may want declaratory relief, which I will save for a later post (meaning the courts force the government to change a policy).
When I look at a police brutality case for financial damages I ask many questions in my assessment:
- What were the extent of the physical injuries? Was there a hospital visit? How much is the hospital bill? What happened at the hospital? What were you treated for: gun shot wound, concussion, broken bones, stitches, etc? Is there any continuing treatment: are you in physical therapy as a result of the injury? If you were incarcerated, did the prison give you medical treatment? When you were released from custody, did you take yourself to the hospital? Is there a diagnosis that had you been given treatment in custody, you would not have the same injury, or would the injury have been not as bad?
- What was the true outcome of the criminal case? How did the criminal case resolve? How much did you pay a criminal lawyer to represent you in the criminal case?
- Were you incarcerated for any period of time as a result of the false arrest? What was the length of time? Was the length of time related only to this instant case, or was the length of your incarcerated due to other issues plus this case?
- Did you miss any time at work? Did you lose your job?
- Has the police officer every done this before?
- Is what happened to you something that happens to people all the time and the city or county should have changed a policy that would have prevented this incident?
- Compared to other instances of police misconduct, how outrageous is your case? Are the actions of the police officer unique in the instant case?
There are many other factors that we look at when trying to assess damages in civil rights cases, but this should be enough to give you an idea of basics.
We have prosecuted very small cases where police are simply confiscating cell phones and destroying them because people are video taping police conduct. We have also prosecuted some very big cases where people have been shot by the police. All of these civil rights cases have value, but analyzing a case’s value is dependent on all of the factors listed above.
