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Verdicts and Settlements

Catalan v. City of Los Angeles, et al.

Plaintiff jailed for murder, but was actually attending an L.A. Dodgers game when the crime was committed. Innocence was proved by video outtakes from an HBO episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Settlement: $320,000

Palmer v. City of Los Angeles, et al.

aka 39th & Dalton Street case

LAPD 77th Division officers took sledge hammers to the interior of a multiple unit dwelling, then rounded up numerous young black men, savagely beating them on the front lawn. A group of plaintiffs represented by a group of civil rights attorneys, including Gary, brought suit.

Settlement: $3,000,000 plus attorney fees

Coleman v. County of Los Angeles

Man shot six times by LASD deputy, who then planted a gun on him. Felony jury trial of three weeks, resulting in full acquittal in two hours. Jury wrote a note that deputy should be in prison. Civil case joined with larger action of multiple plaintiffs against County of Los Angeles Sheriffs. Case resolved as part of larger $7.5 million settlement of Darren Thomas v. County of Los Angeles, leading to the Kolts Report, which implicated the department deputies in rampant misconduct and appointed an outside monitor to prepare ongoing semi-annual reports of Sheriff's Department activities and misconduct.

Result: The Kolts Report More about the Kolts Report

Friedman v. City of Los Angeles

Developmentally disabled man holding a knife shot

and rendered paraplegic by LAPD officers responding

to a domestic disturbance call at Regional Center residence for disabled tenants.

Pre-trial settlement: $3,250,000

Covin v. City of Inglewood

26-year-old man sleeping in parked car after eviction from apartment was shot and killed by Inglewood Police officers, claiming he tried to run them over. Two young sons, 3 and 4, left fatherless in care of unemployed young mother.

Verdict: Over $2.7 million in federal court, after $150,000 offer rejected.

The first seven-figure result in federal court in Los Angeles in a police shooting death civil rights case

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