Category Archives: Governmental Liability

Federal Lawsuit Against Parkersburg Police Settled

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The Tim Mazza lawsuit, which was pending in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of West Virginia, is now settled.  In police lawsuit cases, the settlements are not necessarily confidential.  This case was settled for $100,000.00.  Another case involving two of the same officers was settled a couple months prior for $70,000.00.

Link to a news story on the Mazza settlement.

Link to a news story on the Ratliff settlement.

The funny thing in this case is that from day one, in the newspapers, the mayor and police chief blamed us lawyers and tort reform in general.  They publicly announced that they would not be settling this case and that they would handle the matter in court.  Of course this had to be addressed once the decision to settle was made.  In the News and Sentinel article announcing the settlement, they blamed the decision to settle on their insurer.

If I could get an insurer to settle a frivolous case for 100 grand just to avoid the time and expense of litigation, I wouldn’t be so picky about which cases to accept.

Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Morgan County Sheriff’s Department and Deputy

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We just filed this case in federal court against the Morgan County Commission (i.e., Morgan County Sheriff’s Department) and Deputy Seth Place for the 2010 shooting of my client, Ulysses Everett.  He was shot twice through the front door of his home while unarmed.  There is a video.

ETA: News article from The Journal newspaper.

Two more thoughts of the day: 1) Without video proof, police misconduct didn’t occur; 2) Sex offender registration mania is out of control

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It blows my mind that this is on video, but it is.  A scumball cop in Ohio abused his authority and violated the civil rights of an innocent citizen.  He basically threatened to execute the guy, etc.  Of course the poor guy is then prosecuted for “failure to notify” that he had a concealed weapon permit and was carrying.  I heard through the grapevine that in the criminal prosecution which ensued (of the victim of course – not the cop) the prosecutor offered to dismiss the charges if the victim/defendant signed a release of liability foreclosing any possibility of a lawsuit over civil rights violations.  If this is true (and I have no proof that it is), the prosecutor should be prosecuted for attempting to cover up a crime.  I just found this statement from the police chief in that jurisdiction:

I want to assure our citizens that the behavior, as demonstrated in this video, is wholly unacceptable and in complete contradiction to the professional standards we demand of our officers. As such, appropriate steps were placed in motion as dictated by our standards, policies and contractual obligations. Those steps included: The officer immediately being relieved of all duty. The incident has been referred to the Internal Affairs Bureau for what will be a complete and thorough investigation. As bad as the video indicates our officer’s actions were, there is a due process procedure to follow. That process is designed in the best interest of both our employees and the citizens at large. That process will be followed in this case as in all others. Anyone shown to be in violation of our rules and regulations will be help appropriately responsible as dictated by all the facts. ~Chief Dean McKimm

The 800 pound gorilla in the room is this: if the video did not exist, nobody would believe the victim.  And it blows my mind that the video was recovered.  By the way, if you watch the video, take note of the illegal search of the backseat of the car which happens almost immediately after the stop.  This sort of garbage happens all the time.  After the fact the cops will claim to have received consent to search the vehicle.  There was no consent, and there was no probable cause to search.

Secondly, there is a story out today about 14 year old boys being required to register as sex offenders due to a high school prank.  It’s time to tell the whining hippy women and the “new-castrati” that enough is enough with this sex offender garbage.  Of course it has its place with real sex offenders.  But this has gotten out of control.  I’m tired of seeing this ruin the lives of good young people.  The sex offender laws are too broad.  Then once we label good people as “sex offenders”, it ruins their lives.  Not only this, but it waters down the real purpose of having registered sex offenders.  So what’s the point?

If you were wondering what the law is in West Virginia, it is basically this: if there is any conviction of an individual and the presiding judge makes a finding that the offense was “sexually motivated” in any way, that person then becomes a registered sex offender.  It doesn’t have to be an actual sex offense charge.

Federal lawsuit against Wood County Sheriff’s Department in the news

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In the Charleston Gazette this morning is an article on a federal lawsuit I filed yesterday on behalf of Brian Sawyer, replete with a video of his beating at the hands of a Wood County, WV deputy.  This is an excessive force case which is currently the subject of an FBI investigation, as the article confirms.

This incident would have coasted under the radar if it were not for Sgt. Dave Westfall of the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, who blew the whistle on what happened, and saved the surveillance video of the beating, providing it to the FBI after his superior allegedly told him to not throw his fellow deputy “under the bus.” Westfall is a veteran of the U.S. Special Forces, with a distinguished career as a law enforcement officer.  He is also a certified self defense instructor and use of force instructor.  It goes to show that real men do not need to use their badge to beat people up.  Real men use restraint and act with a clear head.  Real men do what is right and would never cover up a civil rights violation just because he can.

Unfortunately, now Sgt. Westfall is defending himself against the Wood County Sheriff’s Department.  He alleges that he was caught by his superiors showing this video to two FBI agents secretly at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, and now they are seeking to discipline him for unrelated allegations.  And we wonder why other officers do not come forward to report misconduct . . . .  Their choice is to have a long, quiet career with no bumps in the road by staying quiet, or to do what is right and face persecution.

Now we all need to stand behind Sgt. Westfall and keep him from getting thrown under the bus for having integrity.

This is a good lesson on what the proper role of the federal government is.  I was watching the Maynard / Rahall debate last night, and there was a lot of discussion on the proper role of the federal government.  There are a couple of things that we do need the federal government for: raising, maintaining, and operating a military; and stepping in to local situations where there is questionable accountability and integrity within state or local government.  Thank God we live in a country where we can go to the FBI if we believe that there has been a coverup or conspiracy among law enforcement at the state or local level.  Otherwise, what could we do?

UPDATE: (10/28/10)

Other Media Links for this case:

WTAP article

WTAP video (Note: during the video the anchor says something about Sawyer pleading guilty to assault on an officer, and at the exact time she says that you see Sawyer in the background being choked and held up off his feet.  Obviously a vicious assault against that officer.  Of course when he took the plea offer, he would have had no idea about the video, and without a video it’s like talking to a brick wall when you tell people you were beaten up.  That’s the usual way things work.  You get beaten up, and they charge you with assault.  Then they give you a good deal on the jail sentence if you just plead to assaulting an officer.)

News and Sentinel

Daily Mail

Statement released by Sheriff Jeff Sandy:

“On October 26th, 2010, a federal law suit was filed concerning alleged “excessive force” violations being committed by a former employee of the Wood County Sheriff’s Office. I assure the public that the Wood County Sheriff’s Office will continue to cooperate fully. As Sheriff of Wood County, I am responsible for all events that have occurred at the Wood County Sheriff’s Office since taking office. Under my watch the Sheriff’s office has not and will not tolerate illegal and unethical behavior by any employee that has taken the oath of office. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office has some great public servants, and this alleged incident should not reflect upon the entire organization. In ending, as Sheriff, I welcome any and all investigations by federal and state investigators, because after their investigation is completed it will show an unbiased detail of the events.”

Note: probably not coincidentally, I also have another case currently pending in federal court for a police beating which occurred in Parkersburg – Tim Mazza.  At least this time officials have not been blaming me or tort reform….

West Virginia State Police lawsuit in the news

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There was an article this morning the Charleston Gazette on the lawsuit against the West Virginia State Police on behalf of Travis Barker, entitled, “FBI investigating trooper accused in beating“.

As usual, there were some comments by the WVSP included as their response to the reporter’s inquiries.  However, I was surprised to see that for once there were no potshots taken at me or any other lawyer.  They did not call for tort reform this time.  I wonder why this is?  Could it be that this time there is an independent agency conducting an investigation (the FBI)?  After all, they would look pretty bad if they discounted the lawsuit’s allegations and the FBI ends up finding merit in them.

To be fair, the main incident I am referring to is the comments from the Mayor and Police Chief in Parkersburg from the Mazza case, which of course does not involve the state police.  And usually the WVSP are more professional than that.  But, it was only a week ago that they publicly decried attorney Mike Clifford for releasing information to the media in the Snavely case, all-the-while ignoring the fact that the WVSP had apparently been caught in a cover-up.

I still don’t see how it helps the WVSP to engage in secrecy and suppression of trooper misconduct.  You would think that public confidence would be instilled through the purging of troopers who can’t follow the rules.  Maybe this is something that we can change if we yell loudly enough.  After all, we are citizens and taxpayers, and the state police is our state agency.  It represents us, and at least theoretically, is funded by us.  Let’s resolve to engage not in tort reform, but reform of the WVSP.  We need public disclosure and accountability.

Again, I will say, that I support the military; I support law and order; I support law enforcement.  I understand that 95% of law enforcement out there are good people who place public trust and integrity foremost in their actions as officers, and who would willingly sacrifice themselves to save another.  I am okay with “cowboyism” where necessary, i.e., in Compton, CA, or some like place.  I understand that it is necessary in places which are akin to war zones.  But for the most part, in West Virginia, which is the primary area I am concerned about, and the only area in which I have any power to seek justice, I don’t want it to happen – especially against someone who did not commit a crime.  And if it does happen, the WVSP knows, and counties and municipalities know, that myself, and other lawyers, who also take an oath to uphold the U.S. and West Virginia Constitutions, will be watching.

– John H. Bryan.

WVSP feeling the heat, and deservedly so.

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The latest of Charleston Gazette reporter Gary Harki’s article critical of the WVSP is, to me anyways, an absolute bombshell – though not surprising in the least.  Usually in the media you find brown-nosed reporting with regards to law enforcement, usually which talks about all the criminals who were arrested and/or charged.  Harki has had the gusto to take on the West Virginia State Police in a big way.

The article deals with former-Trooper-now-Hinton-Police-Chief-Snavely, who I have discussed before.  I wasn’t surprised when I found out that prosecutors were not charging Snavely with a crime.  But I was surprised to see Harki’s article titled, “prosecutor not told ex-trooper falsified log“.  Apparently the WVSP “investigation” into Snavely uncovered the fact that Snavely falsified his duty log for the evening when he was accused of his wrongdoing.  However, they apparently chose to leave that tidbit out of the investigation report which went to the prosecutor.  So Harki finds out about this from attorney Mike Clifford.  Harki then goes to the prosecutor who made the call.  And he is apparently pissed, and rightfully so – since it was published as being his decision not to prosecute Snavely.  And of course, as usual, the WVSP is angry at the attorney – at Clifford!  It was his fault – he shouldn’t have told Harki.

We have a culture of secrecy in the WVSP.  Even though for the most part they are good and law abiding officers, the top brass have have made some decisions which undermine the public’s trust and confidence in their integrity.  If you have a public official who has done something wrong, the public needs to know about it, and the public wants to know about it.  If covered up, the public gets pissed.  And the coverup is always worse than the crime.  If they would just throw the bad officers under the bus where they belong, from the very beginning, the WVSP would come out smelling like a rose.  It would reinforce our confidence in law enforcement.

Instead we have the awful situation where an innocent citizen can have his civil rights violated by some cowboy cop, and there’s nothing the person can do about it.  What can they do?  Call the police?  Yeah right.  Call the West Virginia State Police?  Yeah right.  Call the Governor?  You just get a form letter in return.  Call your congressman?  You just get a form letter.  Call the FBI?  Do you have any idea how many complaints they probably get?  Without something more to lend legitimacy to your complaint, there is about a 99% chance they will do nothing about it.  The only thing you can do is get a civil lawyer on your side.  Someone who has the guts to sue the WVSP, and to put up with the WVSP verbally accosting them in every newspaper article rather than commenting on their troopers’ misconduct.

West Virginia State Police Lawsuit

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Here is a copy of a lawsuit which was filed friday against the West Virginia State Police, this time on behalf of a law enforcement officer.  Of course everything is my fault as the attorney.  Damn scumbug lawyers….  There was an interesting article in the Charleston Gazette this past Sunday on all the problems they are having at the WVSP.  Out of one mouth they are saying that they pretty much only settle cases for “financial” reasons.  Then out of the other side of their mouth they are bragging that they haven’t had to pay out anything to the plaintiffs who sued them in Logan County, even though they have spent almost one hundred grand in legal fees fighting them.  If you are settling for financial reasons, then why didn’t you settle the Logan County cases before spending six figures defending them?  We are reaching a crisis point in West Virginia with respect to our law enforcement.  We have rampant allegations of misconduct, and the leadership actively suppresses it and stays “mum” towards the public.  In the rare situation where they agree there has been misconduct, they allow the officer to resign and go elsewhere to some other unsuspecting community.  We taxpayers and citizens are told nothing.  They should proudly weed out the bad apples among their ranks.  The fact that they don’t makes us mistrust them.  Lawyers don’t want bad lawyers around.  Doctors don’t want bad doctors around.  Airline pilots don’t want bad airline pilots around.  You only find this phenomonen of absolute non-accountability and “professional courtesy” in the realm of government employees – most notably in law enforcement.  Then they blame the lawyers.  If there were no lawyers with the courage to take on law enforcement, then people would really be helpless.  I bet they would like to get rid of us.  Tort reform?  Their officers already have dozens of different kinds of immunity, which you can only get past with legitimate allegations and convincing proof.  What else do they want?  Maybe they should admit they have a problem, then they could take the next step of solving it.

Parkersburg Police Lawsuit

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As I mentioned in the previous post, we filed a lawsuit against the city of Parkersburg, West Virginia, for the alleged sexual orientation hate crime beating of our client, Timothy Mazza.  There is a good article in the Charleston Gazette – actually the Sunday Gazette Mail, as it is called on Sundays – top of the fold on the front page.  It features a color picture of Mr. Mazza displaying the large black and blue side of his abdomen where his rib was fractured.  The reason I say it is a good article is because the reporter, Gary Harki, conducted his own investigation into the case.  He interviewed witnesses and examined evidence.  Other reporters would have just regurgitated the lawsuit.

An interesting thing about the article is that the mayor and the police chief of the town are quoted several times in reference to the case:

Parkersburg Mayor Bob Newell and Police Chief Joe Martin dispute Mazza’s claims. Newell said that if what Mazza claims is true, he should have talked to police – not to a lawyer and the news media. . . .

The mayor blames the lawsuit on what he says is West Virginia’s need for tort reform.

“It is very aggravating that it is being handled this way,” Newell said. “I’ve dealt with attorneys a lot, and they are trying to get cases settled through public pressure.” . . .

Martin and Newell said they will ask their insurance carriers to allow the case to go to court, rather than settle.

Martin, who became chief after the incident, said they never received a formal complaint or even a phone call about the incident before being served with the lawsuit.

“We will let it work itself out through the legal process,” he said. “He can say whatever he wants to say. We’re not as free to speak as they would be.”

So let me get this straight.  If the police trespass on your property, beat you up, fracture your rib, refuse to take you to the hospital, keep you in jail overnight, and call you gay slurs while doing so, you should go to them for help?  Let me tell you something.  I have people who call my office or email me everyday with similar experiences, and there is absolutely no one willing to help them.  Making a formal complaint is laughable.  The only complaint they take seriously is one filed in a courthouse.  Why would you go to them for help while they are trying to prosecute you.  They never voluntarily dropped the charges against Mazza.  It took a criminal defense attorney going to the court to cross examine the officers in order to point out the civil rights violations which occurred.  It was the court that dismissed the charges.  The prosecutors/cops were all-the-while trying to get Mazza to agree to a plea involving 30 days in jail.  It is outrageous to claim that instead of going to lawyers he should have gone to the police.

In reality, Mazza comes from a long line of law enforcement officers.  His father was a police chief.  He has great respect for law enforcement.  After this happened, phone calls were made, and they were ignored.  The police chief would not return a phone call from, or communicate with, Tim’s police chief father about what happened to Tim – nor would they even provide Tim or his father with the officers’ names.  It took lawyers to take action.  And American citizens have every right to go to the media, as we are guaranteed the ability to do under the First Amendment of the US Constitution (regardless of whether the Parkersburg mayor and police chief agree with that document).

Busy with high-profile civil cases…. (and a new daughter)

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It’s been a while since I last posted.  There is a good reason for that.  The reason is that unfortunately, my primary profession is the practice of law rather than writing.  I have been busier than ever before in the last month or so.  For one I had a healthy baby daughter two weeks ago, and she surprisingly loves to sleep through the night, so she is so far no trouble at all (I know, knock on wood).  Additionally, I have been working on a number of high profile cases, some of which you may be reading about in the media in upcoming days.

One of my cases is already in the news, and unfortunately for my ego I suppose, the only way you would know that I was involved in it would be to read the Complaint, or to read this, since the media has thusfar deprived me of any credit whatsoever.  Anyways, myself and attorney Michael Clifford of Charleston (see Leavitt case), filed a lawsuit against the Parkersburg Police Department, as well as the individual officers involved, last week in federal court.  This is a 1983 action for wrongful arrest, excessive force, etc.

There will be a better and more detailed article coming out on this case, after which I will post a link to it here.  The facts are egregious, and involve the new classification of homophobic crimes as hate crimes.  For now, here is the original story from the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, which interestingly multiplied automatically when it was picked up by the AP.

If anyone else knows someone, or has themselves been arrested,harassed or discriminated against by the Parkersburg Police Department due to their sexual orientation, please let me know, preferably as soon as possible.

As I said, this is not the only high profile case I have been working on.  There is going to be another police liability case filed here in the next week or so, this time in Southern West Virginia, and there is an additional case involving white collar fraud I have been spending most of my available time on which is extremely interesting and which I will detail when the time is right.  So don’t hold it against me if I cannot find time to post as often as I used to.

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.

Law enforcement is [apparently] not a profession – Part 2

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In the news today – college kid in federal court on trial for hacking into Sarah Palin’s email account – facing 50 years in the federal penitentiary.  Meanwhile, in West Virginia….

(can you see where this is going?)

Police officer, while on duty and using official resources, hacks into his ex-wife’s personal email account in the same exact way, downloads the emails and attempts to use them as evidence in a child custody proceeding, and then admits to doing so.  Federal indictment? Facing 50 years in federal prison?  Fired?  Nope, none of the above.

Could a lawyer do that?  No, he would get in big trouble.  But it’s pretty darn hard to get in trouble if you are a county or city police officer in West Virginia, especially the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department (Wheeling, West Virginia).

Here myself and another lawyer, Thomas E. White, from Moundsville, West Virginia, have teamed up to help give justice to a former law enforcement spouse who alleges that she suffered, and continues to suffer, due to her ex-husband’s position as a police officer, and to attempt to do the county’s job (for them) of providing discipline and accountability to the Sheriff’s Department there.