$50,000 Excessive Force Case Could Cost Calif. City $500,000
An 11-year court battle over an excessive force case that could have been settled for $50,000 probably ended yesterday for the city of Palo Alto, Calif., when the state supreme court upheld a jury verdict for the plaintiff.
With plaintiff attorney fees and interest, the total cost of the case to the city could now hit $500,000, reports the Bay Area News Group. The jury found that three now-former Palo Alto police officers went too far when they reportedly threw Michael Schmidlin to the ground, shoved his face into the sidewalk and beat him on the legs after arresting him on suspicion of public drunkenness.
Plaintiffs lawyer Mark Martel says the city could have settled the case initially with a $50,000 payment and an apology. Now he is planning to spend much of the next month calculating his attorney fees, which should be at least $300,000, according to the article. It says Schmidlin will get $24,000, plus interest.
“I understand that cities often adopt a hard-line policy against these types of claims, but they’ve got to be a little objective,” says Martel. “This was not a frivolous case.”
Gary Baum, the city attorney for Palo Alto, says he is disappointed about the ruling. “We did not feel the elements of excessive force had been met,” he tells the news group.
