NYC pays $850,000 to settle inmate’s beating death suit

This NYT story, by Benjamin Weiser, has no kind of good ending. It hurts  to read it: New York City Agrees to Pay $850,000 to Settle Suit Over Inmate’s Death – NYTimes.com.

The subhead says even more: “Settling another claim of violence against a man in custody.” (There have been a number of these cases.) And of course, the city spokeswoman said:

The city’s decision to settle the Abney case if not an admission of wrongdoing. It is a common practice among all defendants, both public and private, to settle cases rather than risk an unpredictable jury verdict.

Those were carefully chosen words. It may not be “wrongdoing” by the City that caused Mr. Abney’s death but it’s certainly criminally negligent prison management.

The only good information you can wrest from this piece is the names of two excellent civil rights attorneys, Susan Karten and Jonathan Abady.

This entry was posted in Law, suits and order and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.