City says it has reached $6.4M wrongful death settlement with family of Freddie Gray

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
Possible the settlement hinges on a clause like that? If they are exonerated then no payment will be issued kid of thing?

Doubtful. It sounds like they are trying to get it approved quickly while the criminal trial, with all its possible appeals, could take years.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

If approved, would that not hinder the ability for a court to hear the cases of the defendants without being biased?

I would of liked to see this happen after, to me this is paving the way for the prosecution to get a better deal for the officers.
I know civil cases don't prove that a criminal offense took place, but 6.4m is a pretty decent chunk of change.

This spells out officers walking to me.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

The irony of the whole Freddy Gray issue is, that none of that money will got into his death hands, how about the family using that money if awarded to better the areas that are affected by poverty and income disparity, in the name of Freddy.

We all know the answer to that.

a reply to: marg6043

No we don't, when they get the money then we will know the answer to that.
Until then you are just assuming.

a reply to: Sremmos80

Yes I forgot, all those that had dying family members in the hands of police officers and been awarded millions had all opened nice trust funds for the betterment of their fellow citizens in the cities affected.

Yes we don't know the answer to that or do we.

a reply to: marg6043

Can you show what those people did or didn't do with their money?

And are any of those people this family?

We don't know what they are going to do with it, we can just assume like you are doing.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: marg6043

Can you show what those people did or didn't do with their money?

And are any of those people this family?

We don't know what they are going to do with it, we can just assume like you are doing.

I would say it is safe to assume the same of them as of those that win the lottery...most are broke within a few years because everyone around wants a piece of it and they end up buying things that have upkeep that they did not account for.

That is the majority of lottery winners at least, so I would assume being awarded a cash summation from a law suit would have a similar outcome.

I think the last I heard it was around 70%+ of lotto winners go broke.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Winning the lotto and getting money for a wrongful death of a family member I think would be different, at least in how you came into getting that money.

But that is also an assumption.
My point is we have zero idea what they are going to do with it it and to talk down about them based on what you assume is wrong.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Vasa Croe

Winning the lotto and getting money for a wrongful death of a family member I think would be different, at least in how you came into getting that money.

But that is also an assumption.
My point is we have zero idea what they are going to do with it it and to talk down about them based on what you assume is wrong.

I am not trying to talk them down. I am saying that statistically those that come in to large amounts of money, go broke soon after. Has nothing to do with this particular family....just the stats overall....regardless of where the money comes from. Plenty of research has been done on those that inherit large estates and the same thing happens, unless the family member that died has a trust set up where nobody can touch the "egg", they just get a portion of the interest every year...keeps them from going broke and is the whole reason these types of things are set up in the first place....those that made their own money know that giving money to those that have not made it, like their kids/family/whatever, tend to blow it.

The old saying that you never take care of something better than when you bought it with your own money comes to mind....

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

But we all know that it doesn't take criminal convictions to equate to civil lawsuits being found in favor of the plaintiff. While it may seem like it happened on an odd order, it doesn't mean anything.

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
But we all know that it doesn't take criminal convictions to equate to civil lawsuits being found in favor of the plaintiff. While it may seem like it happened on an odd order, it doesn't mean anything.

A good attorney will find a way to use it to their client's advantage.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Right, but in the supposed blind eyes of the justice system, and good judge would not let that fact be admissible in court because it has zero bearing on a criminal trial.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

The issue is a good trial attorney may be able to capitalize on the situation before it goes to trial or even after the trial if there is a guilty conviction.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Yeah, yeah...we could do this volley all day. The point is, we're both right.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Yes, I have read about how many lotto winners lose their within the first year, but that is because they refuse most of the time the money management that is offered to them.

Then there are the taxes and so on and on, I wonder if in wrongful death people have to pay taxes on money they get, or if the money is awarded in payments through the years.

originally posted by: marg6043
Then there are the taxes and so on and on, I wonder if in wrongful death people have to pay taxes on money they get, or if the money is awarded in payments through the years.

No, settlements are tax free. The attorney typically gets one third and the victim/victim's family the remainder.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Well thanks I had no idea they do that, but I also thought that the city have a cap of how much can be awarded in wrongful death and is not 6 million dollars, unless they have change that.