Posted on 04/11/2019 6:11:01 PM PDT by montag813
by Jenn Carter
The City of Chicago has filed a civil suit against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, seeking to recover the cost of Chicago Police Department overtime hours expended searching for the perpetrators of a "hate crime" that Smollett allegedly perpetrated against himself.
And unlike the criminal case, which was dropped by an embattled prosecutor, Smollett is "almost certain" to LOSE this case, according to one legal expert -- and a ton of money along with it -- far more than the amount currently sought.
Looks like Jussie should have settled when he had the chance. Here's more...
Chicago's ABC affiliate reports that the city's Law Department has filed a complaint requesting damages in the amount of $130,106.15.
A spokesperson for the Law Department told ABC7 that the lawsuit "pursues the full measure of damages allowed under the false statements ordinance. This follows his refusal to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019."
The Cook County State's Attorney's office dropped 17 charges against Smollett stemming from the January 29, 2019 incident, in which Smollett says he was attacked by two Donald Trump supporters on his way home from getting a sandwich at a nearby Subway sandwich shop around 2 a.m. Initially, Smollett was charged with one count of filing a false police report, but a grand jury added an additional 16 counts — one for each lie they believe Smollett told investigators over the course of two separate interviews.
Smollett was allowed to walk free on a "modified plea bargain" that allowed him to avoid trial by serving 16 hours of community service and forfeiting a $10,000 bond. Smollett was not required to admit responsibility as part of the deal with prosecutors, and has since claimed innocence of all charges. The State's Attorney's office, which has faced a wave of criticism over the Smollett case, maintains that the deal does not, in fact, absolve Smollett.
After discovering that the State's Attorney intended to drop the charges, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel suggested that Smollett could reimburse the city for costs associated with investigating the "hate crime," and later, the city's Law Department issued an official request for just over $130,000.
Smollett's lawyers rebuffed the demand, claiming that it was Smollett who was owed an apology.
(Excerpt) Read more at 24News ...
Rich men eat at Subway?
$130K. Isn’t that the same amount Jussie ignored only a week ago?
I don’t understand certain things.
And one is, what about the legal advice he’s gotten?
Is he in this hot water because of bad legal advice from his attorney? Did his attorney encourage him to back out of arrangements to pay the costs of police work on the case and settle this damn thing once and for all? Now he’s on the hook for much more?
They should be charging for the total cost....not just the overtime. And what about an apology to Trump supporters.
Same amount. All he has to do is ignore the suit, lose by default, and pay. No lawyers needed.
Some poor random white guys had gotten convicted for this and were rotting in prison, Smolett would be just fine with it. The lying @#$% is getting off easy with anything short of jail time.
The headline was misleading.
I have heard elsewhere that such a charge could be TRIPLED if the subject refuses to pay. That is what I was hoping to read about now.
This is just blather by the city of Chicago. They didn’t charge him with anything. They let him go. On what basis can they even do a civil suit? This will be thrown out in the 10 seconds. They already tried him it’s not his fault that he got off lightly. Chicago is just trying to modify the outrage knowing that they will never win this.
This sociopath is still claiming he was innocent.
Can they not reopen charges? Plus, there are pending federal charges?
I would hope the city is also going after court costs, and everything else it can posibly bill to him for having to take this route.
He was working for the Dems. They’ll pay his bill.
And the standard of evidence in a civil trial is even lower than what you have to meet in a criminal trial.
I can't resist saying, "ha."
Is he still working with the CPD to find the culprits?
“This is just blather by the city of Chicago. They didn’t charge him with anything.”
I’m leaning the same way legally. There was no finding of facts in his case as charges were dropped, so though we know he faked the incident and filed a false report, why would he have to pay back money for an investigation with no findings?
It may play differently in a civil case before a jury just like in the OJ case however, as public opinion is not on his side.
using usps to mail oneself fake poison powder might be a felony... at least if one is not amish of a certain political persuasion....
:-/
Maybe he’ll have to hit up Empire for a much bigger raise.
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