Baltimore Crime Beat: When $44 million isn't $44 million - Baltimore crime news: Police, courts and police stories in the city and central Maryland

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December 24, 2009

When $44 million isn't $44 million

If you saw Albert Mosley's $44 million award in a civil lawsuit against a police officer who he says paralyzed him in 2006, you probably thought that was a pretty big payday.

Collecting it is a whole other matter.

As The Sun's Annie Linskey reports today, it's commonplace for the city and the plaintiff to work out a settlement once the jury award is set. It's simply unrealistic, officials say, for the cash-strapped city to pay $44 million to an individual. Mosley's payment was first reduced to $19 million by a judge, and the city has agreed to pay $2 million after garnishing the detective's wages for a year. Two million is still a large chunk of change, but this is a reality check for those who think they're going to walk out of court with whatever the jury awards.

Posted by Justin Fenton at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Courts and the justice system

Comments

Maybe, that's why we have vigilantes.

Posted by: Titi | December 28, 2009 6:25 PM

Two million dollars is nothing. I know a man, he has since died, who was awarded a few million for being parylized while in police custody. After the lawyers and doctors and medical care was paid, he had nothing. There was no big payday.

Posted by: Vanessa Graham | December 29, 2009 1:56 PM

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About Peter Hermann

Peter Hermann started covering news for The Baltimore Sun in 1990, first in Anne Arundel County and, starting in 1994, reporting on the Baltimore Police Department. In 2001, he was assigned to Jerusalem as the Baltimore Sun's Middle East correspondent. He returned in 2005 as an assistant city editor overseeing crime coverage. In 2008, Peter returned to the beat as a daily reporter and blogger. A recent BBC report featured him in a segment on the harsh realities of covering crime in Baltimore.

Coverage will focus on crime trends, problems in neighborhoods in the city and elsewhere, profiles of victims and police officers and try to offer readers a fresh perspective on one of the most vexing issues facing Baltimore and its future.

Contributing to this blog is Justin Fenton, who joined The Sun in 2005 and has covered the Baltimore City Police Department and the criminal justice system since 2008. His work includes an investigation into Cal Ripken Jr.’s minor league baseball stadium deal with his hometown of Aberdeen, a three-part series chronicling a ruthless con woman, coverage of the killing of five Amish children at a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a job swap with a British crime reporter to explore differences in crime-fighting. A special report looking into how city police handle rape cases led to sweeping reforms that changed the way sexual assaults are investigated in Baltimore. He was recognized as the best reporter in Baltimore by the City Paper in 2010 and by Baltimore Magazine in 2011.

Follow @phscoop, @justin_fenton on Twitter