NEW YORK CITY SETTLES FALSE ARREST CLAIM FOR $300,000 OF INNOCENT MAN IN JAIL FOR 14 MONTHS

The police pulled over our client and claimed that he was driving under the influence. After the client passed two field sobriety tests the police officers arrested him, and took him to the hospital for a blood test falsely stating that he had refused to take the tests. The officers found pain medication in his vehicle and charged him with harboring and using illicit substances while driving even though the medication had been prescribed to him by a doctor. Our client was remanded to Rikers Island jail where he spent fourteen months proclaiming his innocence until his case was finally dismissed. While in Rikers, he sustained both physical and emotional injuries during that lengthy period all while his criminal case unfolded. The criminal matter was ultimately dismissed as the judge found that the arresting Police officer’s testimony was not credible, but instead false, inconsistent, and racially biased.We immediately filed a notice of claim with the city based on False Arrest and Malicious Prosecution as the criminal matter against our client was dismissed for the flagrant reasons described above. Instead of a lengthy litigation battle that could have taken 3-5 years in the court system, we asked the city to review this matter in their pre-litigation early settlement unit as we believed this matter was a gross injustice against our client. The City agreed to settle this case for $300,000 within 6 months of our filing and without the need to file a lawsuit citing the time our client spent in Rikers along with his injuries sustained due to the lack of care while incarcerated. This settlement saved our client years of prolonged litigation with the city and he received a settlement check within a year of us filing the claim.