Liability, awards and settlements

7.3, wrongful imprisonment, settlement

US: a man who was cleared by DNA evidence after serving 10 years in prison for rape settled his lawsuit against the city of Marlborough, Massachusetts, for $2mn. The man sought at least $10mn in damages in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the city and several police officers. In a special meeting, the city council transferred money from the city’s stabilisation and health insurance funds to cover the settlement. The City attorney said any award against the city in the tens of millions of dollars would have rendered the city bankrupt. The lawsuit had already cost the city about $400,000, and an additional $500,000 in legal costs if the case went to trial. Under the settlement, the city also assigned rights to the plaintiff to pursue legal action against insurance companies the city contracted after he was prosecuted. The insurance companies denied the city had coverage for the lawsuit. The plaintiff was paroled in 1999, and the next year DNA tests cleared him and the conviction was vacated. Last year, the state awarded the plaintiff $500,000 under a new law to compensate people imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.