On June 14, 1998, Michael Jordan crossed over Bryon Russell of the Utah Jazz en route to a picture-perfect jump shot that gave the Chicago Bulls its sixth NBA championship in eight years (if only the Bulls had such a player in its current series against the Detroit Pistons). In the midst of the championship celebration later that night, Chicago police officers fired 25 bullets into a vehicle carrying 11 young people. Several of those passengers were wounded. On Tuesday, the city council committee recommended that the city of Chicago pay a $2 million personal injury settlement. A Daily Southtown story indicated that the full council is likely going to approve this settlement for these police brutality injuries from almost nine years ago today!
The night of the Bulls’ six championship celebration, the involved youths were turned away from a liquor store when its owner and police officers told them they were closed. The store manager and police said that the car containing the youth then made a U-turn and pulled up on a sidewalk. Police officers alleged that they fired in self-defense, thinking that the car was going to run them over. The passengers in the car said they were no threat at all.
Police bullets peppered the car on its front, side and rear. One of the five plaintiffs involved in the personal injury settlement was hit with four bullets in the side. Other plaintiffs were shot in the buttocks and the elbow and side, respectively. The city added that one plaintiff suffered a leg wound while another woman was grazed with a bullet but did not seek medical attention. The involved officers were later hit with internal discipline charges, none of which were sustained.
In addition to this expected $2 million personal injury settlement, the city had previously settled with other people in the car. Francis Bell lost an eye during the incident and was awarded $1.75 million in her separate personal injury case. Another woman got a $300,000 personal injury settlement in her own case. Alderman Joe Moore of Chicago’s 49th District was critical in the story of the city settling for nearly $4 million in these cases after not finding the officers wrong of any misconduct.
Alleged instances of Chicago police brutality have most recently prompted a media stir. Just last week, a freelance photographer claimed that she was the victim of Chicago police brutality last summer. In the last couple of months, alleged instances of officer brutality in Chicago have included a disturbing image of an off-duty officer beating a female bartender at an establishment on the Northwest side of the city.
The city of Springfield, Massachusetts has come to an $180,000 personal injury settlement with a black school principal who had claimed that he was the victim of police brutality at the hands of five white officers while having a seizure in November 2004. An Associated Press story detailed how Douglas Greer claimed that he was having a diabetic attack inside his car while parked outside of a convenience store when the officers pulled him out of his vehicle. Among his allegations, Greer said the officers kicked and choked him, and accused him of being on drugs. The officers countered that they were trying to hold down Greer as he flailed about and screamed. Greer was eventually taken to the hospital for treatment.
Under this personal injury settlement, neither the city nor any of the five police officers admitted liability. A month after the incident, the Springfield police commission voted to not take any disciplinary action against the five officers, who all remain in the city’s police department. City attorney Edward Pikula called the settlement good for all parties involved in the story and said that the city was glad to move forward from this “unfortunate chapter” in its history.
Perman Glenn III was Greer’s Massachusetts personal injury attorney and described the settlement in the story as being a “step forward” in revealing and preventing police brutality in Springfield. At the time of his personal injuries, Greer was the principal of the Robert M. Hughes Academy Charter School in Springfield. He is currently a principal at another charter school in the city.
This Massachusetts personal injury settlement comes in the wake of severe allegations of police brutality in Chicago. We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments surrounding any other interesting cases involving alleged police brutality injuries.
In recent weeks, The Injury Blog has detailed the debate surrounding the Florida Personal Injury Protection (PIP) law requiring drivers in the state to carry up to $10,000 in personal injury insurance for car accident injuries. Last Friday, state legislators failed to extend this personal injury law, which will officially expire on October 1st unless the issue is taken into consideration during a special legislative session in June.
This Florida No Fault Law required drivers to purchase the PIP coverage, which would pay up to a maximum of $10,000 in coverage for car accident injuries, regardless of who caused them. Auto insurance companies had been arguing for the death of this Florida personal injury protection law because of what they said were large cases of fraudulent claims. A recent Insurance Journal story indicated that such a move could save insurance companies more than $350 million in payments to hospitals, doctors and clinics treating car accident injuries.
Proponents of this Florida personal injury protection law have warned about the possible ramifications of if it expired, including the fact that 40 percent of car accident victims in the state have no form of health insurance coverage besides mandatory PIP. The Florida Hospital Association warned that getting rid of Florida PIP would cause some hospitals to seriously consider whether they could even maintain trauma centers. The FHA added that it would urge legislators to add PIP to the agenda of its special session.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist expressed confidence in the story that the issue would be resolved in the special session. The state Senate had previously proposed a bill that would extend Florida personal injury protection for car accident injuries for three more years. A study of the current system would have also been concluded by 2010 under this bill in order to determine whether to keep moving forward with PIP at that time. However, the state House failed to take up the plan passed in the Senate, and rather pushed a proposed law that would let PIP go to the wayside and be replaced by $15,000 of coverage that could only be used in emergency rooms and hospital-owned clinics immediately after a car accident. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with the Florida PIP debate.
Leftovers from a $40 million personal injury settlement from more than seven years ago will go to three colleges in Louisiana and one community organization. A story on 2theadvocate.com detailed how Southern University, LSU, Baton Rouge Community College and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation will be the beneficiaries of the remaining $3.5 million from the 2000 settlement of a Mississippi River barge accident. In March of 1997, a river barge owned by Nashville, Tennessee company Ingram Barge Co. and containing 400,000 gallons of toluene and benzene capsized just south of the U.S. 190 Mississippi River Bridge. Three years later, the company paid $16 million to people who claimed the accident harmed their health or forced them to leave their homes or close their businesses, and also shelled out $16.7 million to lawyers and $9 million for medical expenses and future claims.
Baton Rouge lawyer Walter Dumas said in a prepared statement from Southern University that the funds were in excess of what the plaintiffs were awarded and thus earmarked for the community. Southern University will get $2.3 million while LSU and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation will get close to $700,000 apiece. Baton Rouge Community College will be given $345,000.
Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter was quoted in a prepared statement as saying that this money will further aid the school’s mission and meet its many needs. Baton Rouge Area Foundation Executive Vice President John Spain said that its share will likely go to one of its educational foundations. The BRAF offers scholarships to college-bound students and also provides grants to entities that address the academic needs of children who were displaced during the hurricanes.
In what’s believed to be the largest award for slip and fall injuries in Virginia history, a Williamsburg woman was recently awarded $12.2 million for the personal injuries she suffered at a gas station convenience store. A DailyPress.com story said that Annette Ritzman was walking into what used to be a Miller Mart in August 2003 when she slipped and fell on a small puddle from a leaky awning. In addition to landing on her chest and chin, Ritzman had her head snap back during the fall. While returning to her hair styling business a couple days later, Ritzman said that she had a hard time concentrating. Doctors later diagnosed her with post-concussion symptoms, and the story added that Ritzman lost brain cells following the slip and fall incident and now suffers seizures.
At the urging of her friends, Ritzman enlisted the help of Virginia brain injury attorney Stephen Smith, who said in the story that he was able to get Miller Mart officials to admit that they knew the outside curb where his client fell was dangerous. The story depicted Miller as painting the case as a wrongful death lawsuit. In other words, Miller said that the Ritzman who friends and family once knew died the day of her slip and fall injuries, which essentially made her appear to be a stranger to those loved ones.
After being hit with the $12.2 million personal injury verdict by a jury in Hampton Circuit Court, neither Miller Mart officials nor its insurance companies had a comment. The story said that it is unknown whether these defendants will appeal the decision. Smith said that it is unlikely that Ritzman will ever return to the spa and added that she will likely hire a life coach to help with her daily life.
A mentally disabled black man who suffered severe brain injuries after four white men beat him in 2003 was recently awarded a $9 million personal injury settlement by a jury in Linden, Texas. An Associated Press story detailed the disturbing circumstances surrounding the injuries sustained by now 46-year-old Billy Ray Johnson, who had the mental capacities of a child at the time of the attack. Johnson was lured to a pasture party, given alcohol and taunted by the four white men before being beaten and suffering a severe concussion and bleeding in the brain. Johnson was later found unconscious on a fire ant mound and is now permanently in a nursing home because of his injuries.
The AP story detailed that attorneys for the Southern Poverty Law Center brought the lawsuit on behalf of Johnson against defendants James Cory Hicks, Christopher Colt Amox, Dallas Chadwick Stone and John Wesley Owens. Following a four-day trial, a jury of 11 white people and one black person found Hicks and Amox responsible for Johnson’s personal injuries. The center said in a statement that Stone and Owens previously reached confidential agreements.
Prior to this civil lawsuit, these men accused of assaulting Johnson had been sentenced to probation and jail time during their criminal cases. Amazingly and very unfortunately, none of these men served more than 60 days in jail for their deplorable actions! Jurors acquitted Amox and Hicks of serious felony charges and rather convicted them of a lesser charge. The story added that Stone and Owens pleaded guilty to the charge of “injury to a disabled individual by omission.”
A woman’s claims that she was a victim of Chicago police brutality last summer and her subsequent personal injury lawsuit seeking damages for her medical bills was the top story on several news broadcasts last night. Freelance photographer Dolores Robare has alleged that she was beaten by two Chicago police officers and two Cook County Sheriff’s deputies following an altercation last August. The incident left Robare with a broken nose, severely bruised and swollen face, and injuries to her head and knees. Robare’s Chicago personal injury attorney said in a press conference yesterday that his client’s lawsuit is not an attempt to capitalize off recent controversies surrounding alleged Chicago police brutality, including a nationally broadcast video of an off-duty officer beating a female bartender in a bar in the city.
The 52-year-old Robare is filing suit against Cook County Sheriff’s deputies John Darge and Margie Sullivan and Chicago police officers Michael Musznsky and Josephine Christopher. According to the personal injury lawsuit, Robare was walking across a street last summer when she was almost hit by a car driven by Sheriff’s Deputy Darge. When she objected to a request for her driver’s license, that’s when Robare alleges that the situation got out of control.
According to the lawsuit, Darge grabbed Robare, handcuffed her arms, wrapped his arm around her neck and then threw her to the ground. As she tried to get up, Robare said the officer kept pushing her to the ground, which ultimately contributed to her personal injuries that required treatment at a hospital. In a report filed after the incident, the officers claimed that Robare was drunk and attacked them. The officers said that she was thus injured when they responded to her alleged actions.
Robare’s attorney, Lawrence Jackowiak, admitted that his client had a few drinks the day of the incident but said that she was not drunk. He countered the police officer’s claims that a drunken Robare attacked them by saying that she would have been charged with a crime and one of the officers would have been injured if those allegations were true. He added that this lawsuit was filed eight months after the incident not because of recent controversies involving alleged Chicago police brutality but rather because it took him a long time to get the names of the officers.
Jackowiak added that there was no justificiation for such alleged beatings, even if Robare was drunk. Robare expressed distress that she was being blamed for the incident.
