630K settlement for excessive force and Sheriff very upset

[Oldgamer]

This stupid Sheriff thinks his cops did nothing wrong. He is upset because the lawsuits ( quite a number of them) keep being settled out of court and not going to trial. Apparently this isn't the first lawsuit for his department. What a complete idiot that he doesn't try to re-evaluate what is going on with his department.

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Link to video and news article

 

[PokerGuy]

Do you have information that says his department did something wrong? Maybe he's right, maybe they should be taking these cases to trial and they'd win them and not owe anything. Just because someone is suing doesn't mean the department did something wrong. Heck, if the county settles everything instead of going to court, it's a great incentive for every lawyer there to file suit no matter how flimsy the case.

 

[Oldgamer]

Do you have information that says his department did something wrong? Maybe he's right, maybe they should be taking these cases to trial and they'd win them and not owe anything. Just because someone is suing doesn't mean the department did something wrong. Heck, if the county settles everything instead of going to court, it's a great incentive for every lawyer there to file suit no matter how flimsy the case.

I imagine they realize it would be far more expensive to take ANY lawsuits to trial and the chances are pretty good that they could lose and lose big time at trial.

But if you have so many lawsuits that this is happening, one would think you would take a closer look at your own department and make adjustments to keep this to a minimum. But instead he chooses to complain.

I personally think the money should come out of their pensions and not out of the taxpayers pocket.

If you want links or information I am sure your very capable of looking it up online yourself.

 

[PokerGuy]

I imagine they realize it would be far more expensive to take ANY lawsuits to trial and the chances are pretty good that they could lose and lose big time at trial.

Absolutely, I agree, part of the job of the lawyers is to advise their clients on the risk of losing and whether settling is good or not.

But if you have so many lawsuits that this is happening, one would think you would take a closer look at your own department and make adjustments to keep this to a minimum. But instead he chooses to complain.

"so many lawsuits".... as compared to what? Is the number of suits comparable to other similarly sized areas? More ? Less? Is there an inordinate number of suits? Could the fact that suits seem to be settled instead of taken to court be a factor in increasing the number of suits brought? The article has none of that relevant information. It simply assumes that suits means the department is doing something wrong. Maybe so, maybe not.

If the sheriff is right (and I'm not saying he is), then maybe the lawyers are too eager to settle when they should be taking cases to trial and winning. You and the author of the article assume that the fact that cases are settled is proof that the department is doing things wrong, but there's no evidence provided to support that notion.

I personally think the money should come out of their pensions and not out of the taxpayers pocket.

If the department is spending all this money on cases, and the populace in the county doesn't want to pay that money, they should fire the sheriff (ie, vote him out of office) and replace him with someone else.