Jury Verdict Submission & Research

On Sept. 8, 2015, an Ohio federal jury awarded the Estate of Kenneth C. Smith $5.5 Million to compensate for Smith’s death caused by an off-duty police officer. On March 9, 2012, 20-year old Smith had attended a party at a club in Cleveland, OH. Early on March 10, 2012, a fight broke out, an unknown person fired a gun, and patrons fled the club. Smith was a passenger in a vehicle leaving the parking lot. Off-duty Cleveland Police Officer Roger Jones, who was drinking at a club nearby, heard the gunshot fire and began to pursue Smith’s vehicle on foot. After ordering Smith from the car at gunpoint, according to Smith’s family, Jones pulled Smith from the vehicle as Smith held his hands up and moved towards the ground. Jones then shot Smith once in the head. Jones denied the allegations and claimed that Smith refused to show his hands while he was in the vehicle and was lunging for a gun when he was shot. The jury, however, found that Officer Jones had used excessive force and awarded survivorship damages of $ 1,000,000 and wrongful death damages of $ 4,500,000.

The win may be in vain. Ohio law requires municipalities to defend and indemnify officers faced with civil liability where the officer was acting both in good faith and not manifestly outside the scope of their employment. But the City of Cleveland may be attempting to block efforts to collect on that judgment by facilitating Jones’ bankruptcy proceedings. According to a report from Cleveland Scene magazine, the Cleveland law department has used city funds to pay for Jones, as well as a second cop with a $13.2 million wrongful conviction civil rights judgment against her, to move into personal bankruptcy by paying their attorney fees and filing fees. If successful, Cleveland’s actions could pave the way for other municipalities to avoid civil judgments based on officer misconduct.

Ruth Brown of Loevy & Loevy, the Chicago firm that obtained the $13.2 million judgment against the City in Ayers v. City of Cleveland, et al. (N.D. Ohio, Case No. 1:12cv753), calls the move “unprecedented” and “a blatant dodge.” Likewise, Terry Gilbert, attorney for the Estate of Kenneth Smith, says that the City is engaging in “legal shenanigans” as a desperate attempt to avoid the verdicts. Difficulty collecting on judgments is nothing new to the legal profession, but this new twist in trying to collect from a governmental entity legally responsible for the actions of its employees is.  In instances involving police misconduct, the biggest legal hurdle is often trying to overcome the qualified immunity afforded officers engaged in the performance of their official duties. These cases present a new legal obstacle that civil rights lawyers have not experienced. Cleveland states that it does not have a policy of avoiding judgments, but that the judgments were against the individual officers, not the City itself. To be sure, the outcome of these collection efforts will have important implications for civil rights and government lawyers alike.

The Estate of Kenneth C. Smith v. Roger Jones and the City of Cleveland can be viewed on the Litigators’ Verdict and Settlement Exchange.