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Crimsonwolf1445 t1_jda07wq wrote

Reply to comment by creativepositioning in As New York Pays Out Millions In Police Misconduct Settlements, Lawmakers Ask Why They Keep Happening by brooklynlad

No reason to litigate if you cit them a check. Thats how the city has handled the issue.

They have staff run the numbers and have come to the conclusion that litigation costs would be more than settlements and therefore they just settle.

How many WANT to pursue a trial? Or how many sue in general?

Either way i dont have numbers but i imagine its absurdly high.

Anecdotally ive seen lawsuits for outright lies get the person a few grand with little push back from the city even with mountains of video evidence.

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creativepositioning t1_jda3tm4 wrote

Those cases probably just involve facts that the police don't want to come out through discovery - like a video showing the accuser is a liar while simultaneously being a record of incredibly poor behavior on the part of the officer. Otherwise I don't buy the settlements.

I was referring to the people here saying the city should litigate the worst of these cases, as if that'd be cheaper than settling them. In that sense, we probably don't disagree. My point was more that, if the city had to litigate a particularly high profile/risk case, it'd probably not be significantly more expensive for the city as compared to a normal party in a litigation.

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Crimsonwolf1445 t1_jda4kn9 wrote

No video outright proving innocence and that the accuser was lying.

It was sinply cheaper to pay a few thousand dollars to the person that fight the lawsuit.

There was no financial benefit to winning. They gain nothing

It actually makes perfect sense when looking at things from a number crunching standpoint.

Once you realize the city gains absolutely nothing by crushing people in court for these lawsuits the strategy of just settling out of court makes perfect sense.

Most of the people that make these false claims and sue are penniless so its not like you can countersue.

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