Police Brutality and Misconduct Victories

Estate of Marvin Booker v. Denver, et al. (trial) – A federal jury unanimously returned a verdict in favor of our clients the Booker family arising out of the death of Marvin Booker from excessive force at the Denver jail. Mr. Booker was an elderly homeless Black man who was in jail pursuant to a minor infraction of failure to appear in court on a minor charge. The jury’s verdict based upon the excessive force inflicted upon him was $4,650,000 plus attorney fees and costs, which was the largest civil rights jury verdict at that time in Colorado history. Punitive damages against the five correctional officers (one Sergeant) of $4.5 million were awarded. Rather than appeal the jury’s verdict, Denver settled the matter by paying $6 million to the family.

Estate of Marvin Booker v. Denver, et al. (pretrial appeal) 745 F.3d 405 (2014) – Prior to the jury trial, Denver and the officers appealed Judge Jackson’s order denying their motion for qualified immunity, and the matter went up to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit before trial for a final decision on qualified immunity. We won that appeal in its entirety. The Tenth Circuit fully affirmed Judge Jackson’s denial of summary judgment, ruling that the case must proceed to a jury trial. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a reasonable jury could find that the defendants subjected Mr. Booker to unreasonable and excessive force in violation of clearly established law when, acting in concert, they tasered him, placed crushing weight on his back, choked him, and subjected him to pain compliance holds, resulting in his death. This is a published decision that is binding precedent, which has been cited by other courts over 1,000 times since it was decided. Ultimately, at trial a federal jury found the defendants subjected Mr. Booker to excessive force, returning a verdict of $4,650,000. Denver settled the case by paying $6,000,000 to the Booker family.

O’Neal v. Fremont County, et al. In 2019, a federal jury awarded our client just under $3 million for various violations of her constitutional rights, after officers unlawfully arrested her in her own home in retaliation for her First Amendment protected speech and later tased her while she was in a restraint chair at the jail. The jury awarded Ms. O’Neal this amount, even though she did not suffer lasting physical injury. The verdict included a $1,000,000 award against the County and $805,000 worth of punitive damages. Ultimately, while the case was on appeal, Fremont County paid $2.4 million to settle the claims.

Martinez Family v. Denver Police.  A federal jury in Denver awarded our clients $1,800,000 arising out of the Denver Police Department’s illegal entry into the family’s home without a warrant, and the subsequent arrest and prosecution of some of the family members. That award was comprised of over $1,200,000 in punitive damages.  The case settled for $1,600,000 while on appeal.

Smith v. Town of Kremmling, et al. A federal jury awarded our client $779,590 after the officers invaded Mr. Smith’s home at night and tased and beat him.  This verdict included over $350,000 in compensatory damages, over $175,000 in punitive damages against the Police Chief, and over $250,000 in punitive damages against the officer. Mr. Smith was also entitled to recover the substantial attorney fees associated with his case. The Town of Kremmling paid $960,000 and additional consideration to settle these claims. Mr. Smith’s lawsuit alleged excessive force and 1^st Amendment retaliation.

White v. Officer Kyllian Chafin. A federal jury awarded $100,000 in compensatory damages and another $300,000 in punitive damages on behalf of our elderly blind client Philip White who was the victim of excessive force at the hands of a Denver Police officer. The judge added on about $490,000 more in attorney fees and costs, bringing the total award to almost $1 million.

Bauman v. Bishop, et al. This case was tried in front of a federal jury in May 2015. During trial, Judge Matsch entered a directed verdict in favor of our client on his unlawful search and seizure claims. Those claims were based on law enforcement officers illegally entering Mr. Bauman’s home (a van) without a warrant, dragging him from the inside of his home to the outside, and detaining him. The case settled for $250,000.

Estate of Rice v. City of Denver and Denver Health, et al. Emily Rice, 24-years old, died in the Denver Jail after being booked after a car accident. Although she begged for medical help, jail guards and nurse ignored her cries. She died less than 24 hours later of internal bleeding from serious injuries to her liver and spleen suffered in the accident. We represented Emily’s family and obtained a $7 million settlement against the City of Denver and Denver Health & Hospitals, and secured vitally important policy changes at both the jail and at Denver Health aimed at ensuring such tragedy never happens again. Those policies are still in place to this day.

Estate of Marshall v. Denver et al.  Michael Marshall was killed in the Denver Jail while undergoing a mental health crisis, tackled and manhandled by multiple large and aggressive jail deputies. Michael had done nothing wrong but died during an extended struggle by officers transporting him within the jail. We represented Michael’s family and obtained a prelitigation $5.3 million settlement against the City of Denver and Denver Health & Hospitals on claims of excessive force and deliberate indifference to Michael’s serious medical needs. Equally importantly, the settlement agreement required Denver and Denver Health to substantially change its staffing, training, policies and practices regarding providing mental health and medical care to inmates in the Denver jails and regarding uses of force in the context of detainees experiencing mental health crisis.

Estate of Tabor v. Adams County, et al. Tyler Tabor died in the Adams County, Colorado jail as a result of Adams County’s and its private medical contractor’s failure to provide necessary medical care to him to treat his dangerous opioid and benzodiazepine withdrawal. We represented his family and estate in a federal lawsuit and obtained a settlement in the total amount of $3.9 million.

Estate of Moffit v. Summit County Sheriff’s Office – Zachary Moffitt died in the Summit County jail as a result of Summit County’s failure to provide necessary medical care to him to treat alcohol withdrawal syndrome. We represented his family and estate in a federal lawsuit, and obtained a settlement in the amount of $3.5 million.

Estate of Lopez v. Colorado Department of Corrections. – We represented the family and estate of Christopher Lopez, who died in a restraint chair with a spit hood affixed, while imprisoned in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Although his death was captured on video, no one responded to provide medical care or assistance, leading to Christopher’s death. We obtained a $3 million settlement on behalf of the family.

Estate of Lobato v. Jefferson County, et al.  Jennifer Lobato died in the Jefferson County, Colorado jail as a result of Jefferson County’s and its private medical contractor’s failure to provide necessary medical care to her to appropriately treat her fatal drug withdrawal syndrome. We represented her family and estate in a federal lawsuit, and obtained a settlement in the amount of $2.5 million against the County and an additional confidential amount against the private medical contractor at the jail.

Estate of Lillis v. CCS et al., involved jail medical staff’s deliberate indifference to the medical needs of Jeffrey Lillis, an inmate at Arapahoe County Jail. When Jeffrey showed symptoms of a respiratory illness, he was moved to the medical unit of the jail for several days, where he got progressively worse. He ended up dying horrifically on the floor of his cell. The autopsy showed he had bacterial pneumonia, which could have been easily treated by antibiotics. Yet none of the multiple nurses who were supposed to be monitoring his condition ever requested that he be seen by a doctor. Along with co-counsel, we settled this case for $2.45 million from Arapahoe County and an additional confidential amount from the private medical companies and their employees who worked at the jail.

Estate of Beauford v. Mesa County, et al. – We represented the Estate of Tomas Beauford, a developmentally disabled man who died during a series of serious seizures in the Mesa County Jail as a result of deliberate indifference by the detention and medical staff to his serious medical needs. We successfully appealed the trial court’s complete dismissal of all of Mr. Beauford’s legal claims. Estate of Beauford v. Mesa Cnty., 35 F.4^th 1248 (10^th Cir. 2022). After winning the appeal, we obtained judgment against the jail’s private contracted medical care provider, Correct Care Solutions, LLC (CCS) in the amount of $400,025, and obtained an additional settlement in the amount of $1,600,000 against Mesa County, for a total remedy of $2,000,025, plus additional non-monetary relief obtained against the County.

Estate of Lemuel v. El Paso County et al. We represented the family and Estate of Deramus Lemuel and obtained a settlement of $1.5 million from El Paso County and an additional confidential amount from the private medical services provider at the El Paso Jail. When Deramus, a Black man, arrived at El Paso County jail, the correctional officers there, who knew he was recovering from a drug overdose and still medically vulnerable, failed to provide necessary medical care. Instead, the officers aggressively restrained and beat him for nearly 12 minutes, until he died. The jail nurses, who were present and observing the violence against Deramus, delayed efforts to evaluate and resuscitate him for crucial minutes, until it was too late.

Ryan Partridge v. Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. In this case, we negotiated a total settlement of over 2,575,000 for our client whose constitutional rights were violated during his detention in the Boulder County jail. Mr. Partridge had suffered known, untreated serious mental health issues for months. During his detention, as he was enduring a prolonged mental health crisis, he was routinely beaten by guards at the jail. He also repeatedly engaged in acts of self-harm. Though Boulder and its jail officials knew that they could not care for Mr. Partridge’s obvious ongoing mental health emergency, they failed to send him to a facility that could properly treat him and protect him from seriously harming himself.

McCulley v. El Paso County, et al. We represented a young college student who was brutalized while in the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center jail, and then subjected to extended, excruciating pain caused by the County and its medical contractor’s failure to provide necessary and appropriate medical care for her injuries. We obtained a settlement against the county and the medical contractor in the total amount of $800,000.

Arapahoe v. Avalos et al. This case was against the federal Bureau of Prisons, where Alec was an inmate, and BOP officials. Alec suffered horrific physical and sexual assaults at the hands of another prisoner, who had previously repeatedly threatened Alec—and Alec had reported these threats to the BOP. Yet, BOP employees moved that inmate into Alec’s cell anyway. During this time, while the inmate brutally physically and sexually assaulted Alec, BOP guards intentionally failed to conduct their mandatory rounds to check on the inmates in their cells every 30 minutes, yet falsified records stating that they had. We settled his claims for $750,000.

Jones v. Colorado Department of Corrections, et al. – We represented Department of Corrections inmate Zachariah Jones against the Colorado DOC after prison officials confined Mr. Jones, restrained in handcuffs, belly chains, and leg restraints, in a “dry cell” for twelve days because they believed he may have ingested contraband. They hoped that they could find evidence to back up their baseless suspicion, but they did not. We sued alleging cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and obtained a $500,000 settlement on his behalf.

Ullery v. Bradley et al., This case stemmed from a prison official’s repeated sexual assault of our client while she was an inmate of Colorado Department of Corrections; other CDOC employees failed to protect Ms. Ullery from the official’s significant sexual harassment and assault. In a published 2020 opinion affirming the denial of the Colorado defendants’ motion to dismiss the case, the Tenth Circuit denied them qualified immunity because it is clearly established that the defendants’ conduct violated the law. As of the end of 2023, the Tenth Circuit opinion in Ullery has been cited by other courts over 125 times. Ullery v. Bradley, 949 F.3d 1282 (10th Cir. 2020). The case led to a settlement for $300,000 after we won the appeal.

Colbruno v. Kessler et al., In an invasion of privacy case against Denver Sheriff officers, who had unjustifiably paraded our client through Denver Health Medical Center completely naked, in full view of hospital staff and members of the public, we won an important appeal and a significant settlement on behalf of our client. The district court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals both denied the Sheriff deputies’ qualified immunity defense. As of the end of 2023, the Tenth Circuit opinion in Colbruno has been cited by other courts over 100 times. Colbruno v. Kessler, 928 F.3d 1155 (10th Cir. 2019). The parties settled Mr. Colbruno’s claims after the appeal for $190,000.

Masters v. Larimer County, et al. Tim Masters was convicted of a murder that he did not commit and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. He was wrongfully imprisoned for ten years of his life until DNA evidence established that he was innocent of the crime and not involved in the murder. Working with the legal team that exonerated Mr. Masters of that crime, the lawyers of Killmer Lane obtained a $10 million settlement against the City of Ft. Collins and its police and the prosecutors who wrongfully prosecuted Masters.

Estate of Bailey v. Colorado Springs et al. We represented the parents and estate of a young black man named De’Von Bailey, who was shot in the back and killed while he was trying to run away from Colorado Springs police. De’Von had been falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and when the police confronted him, he made an admittedly foolhardy—though perhaps understandable, given he was a young a Black man—decision to run away. Three seconds later, without ever seeing any weapon in De’Von’s hands or even on his person, the police shot him in the back, killing him. The amount of the settlement was $2.975 million.

Estate of McClain v. City of Aurora et al., was settled against the City of Aurora and its officers and paramedics for $15 million. Our team represented Elijah’s father and co-represented his Estate. Elijah, who was a young Black man, committed no crime; he had been accused of no crime. Yet the racist Aurora Police Department escalated a bland, non-emergent 911 call placed by an overzealous citizen into the brutalization and murder of a peaceful young man. Elijah’s killing garnered international attention and led to substantial changes within the Aurora police department and the re-opening of criminal charges and convictions against many of the individuals responsible for his death.

Estate of Rotzin v. Arapahoe County & Sheridan We represented the family and estate of Mr. Rotzin, who died after being restrained, beaten and tased multiple times for law enforcement officers. After prosecuting the civil rights claims in federal court, we settled the case for $775,000 and a commitment by the Sheridan Police Department to mandate training and certification in Crisis Intervention to address encounters with individuals undergoing mental health crises.

Estate of Veach v. City of Rawlins, WY – We represented the family and estate of Mr. Veach, who was shot to death by the Rawlins, WY police as he attempted to drive away from them. The City and its officials agreed to settlement payments totaling $925,000.

Mayek v. Denver, et al. – In this excessive force case, we obtained a settlement of $1.2 million from the City and County of Denver. Denver police officers had responded to calls that Mr. Mayek (who was then 17 years old) was running around streets and shouting, though he was not threatening anyone or committing any crime. When three Denver Police Officers spotted Mr. Mayek, he ran from them. During the chase, a DPD Sergeant Rodarte violently struck his leg with a metal baton, gruesomely and severely breaking Mr. Mayek’s leg. While Mr. Mayek writhed in pain on the ground, another officer tased him. Our firm filed suit in federal court against Denver and the involved officers and negotiated for our client the $1.2 million settlement.

Hulse v. Miller, et al. Adams County paid $600,000 to settle claims against its deputies for an unlawful nighttime entry into our clients’ home. The deputies entered our clients’ home illegally after receiving a call about a neighbor dispute. Our clients’ claims include unlawful home entry and excessive force.

Silva v. Smolinski, et al. In this case, Adams County deputies entered our client’s home without a warrant (at night) and subjected him to excessive force. The case settled for $550,000 shortly after the court denied defendants’ summary judgment and rejected their assertions of qualified immunity.

Steele & Stonskas v. Denver, et al. We settled our clients claims against the Denver police for $500,000 before filing a lawsuit. In this case, Denver officers severely beat Ms. Stonskas and Mr. Steele just outside their Denver home in front of their young children. The police doubled down on their violations of Mr. Steele’s and Ms. Stonskas’s civil rights by maliciously prosecuting them based on fabricated facts. Mr. Steele took his criminal case all the way to trial, where he was found not guilty by a jury. All charges against Ms. Stonskas were also eventually dismissed. Neither had violated any laws.

Schlenker v. Arvada, et al. The City of Arvada, Colorado paid $330,000 in to our client after illegally entering his residence at night, detaining him without probable cause in his home, and taking him to the hospital for testing based upon his allegedly “strange” behavior while being questioned by police. There was no probable cause or reasonable suspicion to believe that our client had engaged in any criminal activity.

Delgado, et al. v. Ruybal, et al. Police officers working for the Monte Vista Police Department and Rio Grande Sheriff’s Office agreed to pay $290,000 to resolve claims including excessive force arising out of their unlawful entry into our clients’ house.

Smith v. Town of Mills, WY & Officer Argil Sierra – Mr. Smith was peacefully and legally videorecording a police officer encounter with a motorist from across the street. Another officer came at Mr. Smith and tazed him multiple times, and beat him. To settle his claims under the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution, the Town and the officer paid $190,000. The officer was also criminally convicted for assaulting Mr. Smith.

McInerney v. King, 791 F.3d 1224 (10th Cir. 2015). The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that police officers were not entitled to qualified immunity on a claim that their warrantless entry into Ms. McInerney’s home violated her Fourth Amendment rights. The officers entered Ms. McInerney’s home with their guns drawn based on an alleged “welfare check” because the windows and door of the house were open. They found Ms. McInerney asleep in her bed, partially dressed. After the Tenth Circuit appellate opinion, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Ms. McInerney and set a damages trial. The case was ultimately settled for $132,500.

George Floyd Protest Cases – After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May of 2020, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Denver and many other cities across the nation to protest that killing and widespread police brutality, inflicted particularly against people and communities of color. Police in Denver (and elsewhere) retaliated aggressively against peaceful protesters, shooting them with non-lethal munitions, pepperballs, noxious gases, and otherwise, and subjecting many to illegal arrests. Our firm successfully represented many of these protesters, obtaining millions of dollars on their behalf in settlement of their civil rights claims against the City of Denver and its officers and command staff, based upon the First and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution.

Asprey & Glustrom v. Peabody Energy – In this case, our two clients were protesting at Peabody Energy’s annual shareholder meeting on a community college campus in northern Wyoming. Our clients were holding a banner expressing their opposition to the labor practices of the company – “Peabody Abandons Miners.” For that, they were arrested and taken to jail. All charges against them were eventually dismissed entirely, based upon the violation of the Fourth Amendment, the judge determining that there was no probable cause for the arrest of our clients. On behalf of Ms. Glustrom and Mr. Asprey, we then sued Peabody Energy, which eventually settled our clients’ First and Fourth Amendment claims for $400,000 ($200,000 each), paying each $145,000 during Peabody’s bankruptcy proceedings.

Surat v. Klamser and Ft. Collins, 52 F.4^th 1261 (10^th Cir. 2022) – The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s holding that Ft. Collins could be held liable for the unconstitutional excessive force its officer inflicted on Michaela Surat. The Court held a jury could well find that Officer Klamser’s use of the violent takedown maneuver during Ms. Surat’s arrest was objectively unreasonable. Ms. Surat was arrested for two misdemeanor offenses, committed in a particularly harmless manner. She did not pose a threat to Officer Klamser or others after he initiated the arrest. Officer Klamser’s use of force against Ms. Surat—using a violent takedown maneuver to slam her face into the ground—was not proportionate given her level of resistance. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the district court that the use of the takedown maneuver to slam to the ground a nonviolent misdemeanant who poses no immediate threat to the officer or others based on minimal resistance to arrest is unreasonable and constitutes excessive force under the Fourth Amendment.