Police violence isn’t bad news for everyone; for many lawyers, it’s led to multimillion-dollar paydays.
“You’ll never be out of work dealing with the District police department,” said Gregory Lattimer, a plaintiff lawyer. Lattimer said he files about 50 civil rights suits each year.
Lawyers typically take between one-third and two-fifths of their clients’ settlements.
Given that the District spent almost $14 million to settle suits since 1998, lawyers have taken anywhere between $4.5 million and $5.5 million on settlements alone.
And the stark tragedy and gore of police violence — along with D.C.’s reputation for juries that are hostile to the police and generous to plaintiffs — make civil rights suits “a market that many lawyers want to tap,” Lattimer said.
Kristopher K. Baumann is the chair of the police union and a former lawyer. He said the city is too quick to surrender in many lawsuits.
“There’s a lot of bottom-feeder lawyers out there,” he said. “And once an attorney figures out how the system works, you just have to jump through some hoops and the city will open up the checkbook.”
Lattimer agreed that D.C. has created a litigious climate. He cited the $20 million fund the District has set aside expressly for litigation. For some sharkish lawyers, the fund is the equivalent of chum in the water, Lattimer said.
“I have to be honest, particular segments of lawyers use this for profit,” he said. “You get the right case and the right circumstances and it can be very profitable.”
But Lattimer’s fellow lawyer Richard Silber said it isn’t that easy.
“I think it’s always hard to ask the public to find a police officer — who is sworn to protect and defend them — is responsible for hurting somebody,” Silber said.
Silber brought a wrongful death case against the police department seven years ago. The victim had been shot in the back four times. The jury awarded the man’s family $25,000.
“Juries tend to presume that if somebody gets hurt it’s their own fault,” Silber said. “Lawyers have to work very hard to get rid of that presumption.”
Plaintiff lawyer Ken Trombly agreed and said that “all of the people who sit on juries are taxpayers who know they’re paying for the judgment.”
Ted Williams, another lawyer, said that things have gotten even more difficult since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“After 9/11, individuals in law enforcement have looked more attractive to the general public and the jury pool,” said Williams, a former police officer. “Litigation against officers after 9/11 has become overwhelmingly difficult.”
Additionally, the jury pools themselves have changed, Williams said.
“Because of gentrification or whatever, there are more whites on these juries then there are black citizens,” Williams said. “And for whatever reason, whites for the most part tend to go along with policemen.”
Traci L. Hughes, spokeswoman for the D.C. Attorney General’s office, said that the city’s lawyers are doing everything they can to make sure that taxpayers are being protected.
“We want to do our very best to insure that the interests of the District’s residents are taken care of — and also to reach a fair consensus with the plaintiffs,” Hughes said. But the fact remains that taking a police case to a jury is a huge risk. In 1999 — the year after Ramsey came in as chief — a jury awarded $98 million to the mother of Eric Butera, a police informant who was killed for helping the investigation into the triple homicide at a Georgetown Starbucks.
On appeal, the verdict was trimmed to $1.1 million, but that wasn’t guaranteed.
Hughes refused to comment on the Butera verdict or on whether her office worries about generous juries.
“The circumstances and facts of every case are different,” she said, “and there’s a lot to consider in deciding whether to settle or to go to trial.”
— Megan Snider, an Examiner intern, contributed to this report.
