[taxcontrol]

What I want is a civil litigation system base upon reasonable action. First, I do find the amount excessive and second, there should not be a finding unless there is FAULT.

If the officer followed established procedure and the case was prosecuted as a normal case (hard to tell from the article), then compensation should be limited actual damages (loss of salary, salary for like years in the future, lawyer fees, loss of residence, etc.)

If the officer did not follow established procedure, then in addition to the compensation above, additional penalties should be applied up to a maximum fact of x3 as per standard civil fault penalties. I do have a hard time with the underlying assumption that there is a base of $6 Million for actual damages.

[FreePaul]

You have some good suggestions. Maybe we could find a judge who would be willing to get a group of people together to listen to the evidence. They could decide who was at fault and how much.... No. That wouldn't work. We tried that and you didn't like it.

[Michael.SF.]

(loss of salary, salary for like years in the future, lawyer fees, loss of residence, etc.)

As Rush says: "run the numbers"

if we do, we get:

Loss of salary: 3 yrs x 50,000 $/yr = 150,000
Loss of future salary: 25 yrs. x 60,000 = $1,500,000
Loss of Pension: $1,000,000
Loss of Medical benefits: $500,000 (probably low)
Loss of House: $500,000
Out of pocket costs: $150,000
Total of above: $3,800,000
Law designates triple damages: 3 x 3.8 m = 11,400,000

Plus attorney fees and taxes.

$18,000,000 is not too far off, IMHO.

[Kenny Bunk]

I am sure the award will be whittled down in appeal.

However, this department has a pervasive history of mal-and misfeasance, from the top down. Because of LA COunty's amorphous non-structure, the Sheriff has extraordinary practical power, combined with very useful political clout.

There are many brave and honest deputies, but they don't last long unless they go along to get along. And of course, along the way, they bust some really bad dudes and put them away. The real abuses are at and close to the top, with very little trickling down to the LEO doing his job.