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My complaint to the Pueblo Colorado Sheriff.

Hamans-gallows

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Messages
62
Location
Colorado Springs
I don't mean to throw cold water on your lawsuit, but here it is ...

What monetary damages did you suffer? Civil lawsuits are focused on compensating victims for their loss, not on punishing an evil-doer. If you did not suffer any monetary damages, you are unlikely to recover anything in a lawsuit. Just because you believe your 2nd Amendment rights were violated does not mean that a lawsuit will produce any monetary recovery.

How much are you prepared to spend on this lawsuit? Contrary to popular opinion, most lawyers do not work on a contingency fee basis -- especially in cases where there are no monetary damages or a low likelihood of recovery. This means, the litigant (you) will have to pay your lawyer several thousand dollars to proceed to trial. Just the filing and service of process fees will amount to several hundred dollars. In general, unless there is a statute to the contrary, you cannot recover your legal fees from the loser.

BTW, the county sheriff's expenses are paid by you, as a taxpayer. As a practical matter, this means the sheriff has unlimited access to free legal representation paid for by taxpayers in the form of the county attorney or the DA. the Sheriff doesn't care how much taxpayer money he spends on lawsuits. You, on the other hand, will get write a check for your legal expenses. That also means that the Sheriff has no economic incentive to settle the case -- so you get to pay for and pursue a legal matter that could easily go from trial court through appeals.

Many government agencies are also immune from tort liability under the doctrine of sovereign immunity unless there is a statute allowing the government to be sued. For example, there are Colorado cases where a state hospital killed a patient, but was immune from liability because it is a public agency. I suspect the LE officers in your case will enjoy the same protections. To even bring a lawsuit against a public agency in Colorado has its own special procedures that must be followed or the lawsuit is tossed.

My unsolicited advice is to take the money you had planned to spend on the lawsuit -- say $10,000 -- and use it to get the Sheriff unelected.

I appreciate your advice, and largely agree with you. However, there is a large law firm in Denver that specializes in civil rights that is reviewing my claim. Yep, it's a long shot, but who knows? At least they returned my inquiry and called me and asked me for my narrative.
 

davidmcbeth

Banned
Joined
Jan 14, 2012
Messages
16,167
Location
earth's crust
I appreciate your advice, and largely agree with you. However, there is a large law firm in Denver that specializes in civil rights that is reviewing my claim. Yep, it's a long shot, but who knows? At least they returned my inquiry and called me and asked me for my narrative.

Well, I think you have a 42 USC 1983 seq case.

States usually have immunity (there usually is a process to request that they waive immunity too) but local gov't immunity is not so strong...otherwise people would not be winning any judgments. I currently have a case pending against my state...survived a motion to dismiss, got a default, and am now in the process of getting a default judgment~all pro se.
 
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since9

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
6,964
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
Many government agencies are also immune from tort liability under the doctrine of sovereign immunity unless there is a statute allowing the government to be sued. For example, there are Colorado cases where a state hospital killed a patient, but was immune from liability because it is a public agency. I suspect the LE officers in your case will enjoy the same protections. To even bring a lawsuit against a public agency in Colorado has its own special procedures that must be followed or the lawsuit is tossed.

Thanks for that. However, successful cases involving the violation of civil rights here in Colorado have recovered punitive damages. One award was for around $35,000 (Longmont, I believe). The awards are designed to keep law enforcement departments on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for Denver, as their pockets are too deep.

I applaud your initiative in filing this, but I am confused why you would file a complaint and not want anyone disciplined. Retraining is a form of discipline. Reprimand is a form of discipline. Oral instruction is a form of discipline. "Don't do it again", is a form of discipline. I don't see the point without requesting some form of discipline.

In concur. If what they did was wrong, call it like it is.

I appreciate your advice, and largely agree with you. However, there is a large law firm in Denver that specializes in civil rights that is reviewing my claim. Yep, it's a long shot, but who knows? At least they returned my inquiry and called me and asked me for my narrative.

Did you call "The Offices of Professional Standards at 719-583-6410" like their website says and file a formal complaint?

I appreciate your advice, and largely agree with you. However, there is a large law firm in Denver that specializes in civil rights that is reviewing my claim. Yep, it's a long shot, but who knows? At least they returned my inquiry and called me and asked me for my narrative.

Hmm... Apparently not.
 
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MarkS

New member
Joined
Aug 19, 2014
Messages
27
Location
Colorado
Well, I think you have a 42 USC 1983 seq case.

States usually have immunity (there usually is a process to request that they waive immunity too) but local gov't immunity is not so strong...otherwise people would not be winning any judgments. I currently have a case pending against my state...survived a motion to dismiss, got a default, and am now in the process of getting a default judgment~all pro se.

I wish you luck. Many cases against government are not so easy.

As a discouraging example, take a look at Safford Unified School District v. Redding, 557 U.S. 364 (2009). It was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a strip search (naked) of a middle school child violated the 4th Amendment to the Constitution because the local school lacked reasons to suspect either that drugs (ibuprofen in that case) presented a danger or that the drugs were concealed in her underwear. The court also held, however, that because this was not clearly established law prior to the court's decision, the officials were shielded from liability by sovereign immunity -- the officials did not know that it was a violation of the 4th Amendment because there was no case law on point.

An ordinary person, IMHO, would have said "Gee, it's patently unreasonable to strip search a little girl in search of ibuprofen in her underpants. Clearly, this was a violation of the 4th Amendment's protection against warrantless searches. The local school district should write a check for such outrageous behavior (punitive damages) because the reasonable thing to do would have been to send her home to her parents."

Trial court held there was no 4th Amendment violation. First appeal upheld the trial court. Second appeal reversed the trial court's findings, then on to the US Supreme Court. So the plaintiff paid for legal proceedings in at least 4 proceedings -- trial, 2 appeals, Supreme Court.

Local government, federal civil rights lawsuit, plaintiff wins a US Supreme Court judgement that the search violated the 4th Amendment, but the Court held that the local government that violated the 4th Amendment was still entitled to tort immunity. The plaintiff won the judgment but lost any damages. A truly Pyrrhic victory.

I have no idea what the appeal to the US Supreme Court cost for that opinion, but I bet it was a LOT. The school district, on the other hand, funded their appeals with unlimited taxpayer dollars (and tort immunity), so they had no economic incentive to settle.

This was a court case involving the violation of Constitutional rights of a child. I suspect that violation of gun rights of an adult would be met by a less than sympathetic court.
 
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