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City to Pay $1 Million to Settle Lawsuit Over 1999 WTO Arrests
The city of Seattle will pay $1 million to World Trade Organization protesters who were arrested in Westlake Park seven years ago and will clear their records, in a settlement announced Monday.The money will pay for plaintiffs' legal fees, with the rest divided among up to about 175 protesters, who will get at least $3,000 each, depending on how many file claims, said their attorney Mike Withey.
"We think the cash settlement does send a message that what Seattle did was wrong and we shouldn't have been denied our constitutional rights," said Ken Hankin, a Boeing engineer and one of the protesters arrested in Westlake Park during the second day of the 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle.
Withey said Monday's announcement "closes a chapter in Seattle history" because it likely ends the last of the legal cases arising from protests and arrests involving the WTO meeting.
The settlement is subject to the approval of U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman, Withey said. Pechman will decide how much of the settlement, up to a maximum of $450,000, will go for the protesters' legal fees.
A federal-court jury ruled in January that the city was liable for arresting protesters without probable cause, a violation of their constitutional rights. But the jury determined the arrests did not violate the protesters' free-speech rights because they were not made as a result of a city policy to quash the protesters' anti-WTO viewpoints.
In a prepared statement, City Attorney Tom Carr said he thinks the city would have won if it had appealed the jury's ruling about unlawful arrests. But Carr said the city's insurance company decided to settle the case rather than pay for an appeal.
The $1 million will come from the city's insurer, not taxpayers, he said.
"The city is pleased that the last of the WTO cases is resolved, and we believe the settlement is extremely reasonable," Carr said.
City Council President Nick Licata predicted the settlement will end up costing taxpayers through higher insurance rates for the city.
The city already has paid $800,000 to settle multiple claims involving police misconduct during the WTO protests.
In the settlement announced Monday, the city also agreed to seal its records of the arrests and request that other law-enforcement agencies erase any records they have of the Dec. 1, 1999, arrests.
Hankin said the sealing of arrest records is important to him and other protesters. "It could show up in so many things. If I was applying for a job it could be potentially pulled up," he said.
As part of the settlement, Seattle police officers will receive training on why the department lacked probable cause for mass arrests, Withey added.
Ted Buck, a lawyer for the city in the case, said the settlement calls for the police department to provide recruits and officers with Pechman's ruling that documentation for the arrests was inadequate.
Buck said the lesson learned from the case is not that police need to respond differently to such protesters but that they need to better document such large-scale arrests.
"Under the strain of the WTO riots, the city simply could not properly document these arrests, but will certainly plan to do so in the future," he said.
Staff reporter Natalie Singer contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 Seattle Times
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8 Comments so far
Show AllLet me see if I have read this correctly.....
WTO protesters were exercising their right to free speech and assembly. The court ruling seems to indicate that the probelem was that the police did not adequately document the arrests.
Does this mean that if the police had provided adequate paperwork, that it was okay to limit free speeech and the protesters' right to assembly? If the city had just set up "free speech cages" everything would have been hunky dory?
What the HELL does this all mean?
Cheez, Rebel Farmer, you're concerned about free speech and right to assembly, when the fall out from this is going to be HIGHER CITY TAXES! Let's get our priorities straight, here. Didn't you know that freedom has been redefined by the collusion of corporate moguls and the administration? "Freedom" now means the ability to sell without the impediment of regulations for consumer safety, the environment and worker safety (according to Pamela Brubaker and eds. of Justice in a Global Economy). As a result of the privitization of water in Bolivia, rates tripled or quadrupled. Aahh! Freedom.
Too little, too late.
And this story will never be seen by most of the folks who read msm reportage where 'Seattle WTO riots' are synonymous with protesters (rather than police) gone amok. Any word about cases resulting from the Miami FTAA police brutalizations?
bobh, You could try to explain your point to neocons by the hour without a word of it getting through.
In the TV series 'Roots' Edward Asner played the captain of a slave ship who had been forced to realize that people, including himself, were capable of anything. He was trying to help the ship's owner to understand that buying and selling humans harmed them as much as it harmed their cargo.
The owner's response was worthy of Dick Cheney: "Harm? What harm can there be in profit, I'd like to know?"
Wait a minute. The plaintiff's lawyer said Seattle police officers will receive training on why the department lacked probable cause for mass arrests, and the city's lawyer said that the lesson learned from the case is not that police need to respond differently to such protesters but that they need to better document such large-scale arrests?? So Seattle police will now KNOW when they make mass arrests in the future without probable cause, that they just need to DOCUMENT them? There's gotta be a typo somewhere there!
"I (Rep. Pete DeFazio) got a very disturbing letter back after some months from then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, saying that—he had a very creative interpretation of the inherent powers of the commander in chief, defying all history of the country, and all of the works of the founding fathers and all the precedents—the commander in chief could have a war anywhere, anytime, and that he didn't have to consult with Congress." You can read the interview at: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4120
Rebel Farmer:
By limiting free speech; due process; human rights, and in general, subverting as many rights of "We The People" as possible, our corrupt government officials can continue feeding their corporate masters with little interference from the masses. It's truly astounding how creative they can be when they're solving problems for the money-changers.
The New World Order is unfolding before our eyes, but the majority are too brainwashed and ignorant to see it.
It's nice to know, however, that we still have a few representatives in Congress who have managed to maintain some integrity.
Peter is my rep in Congress! I e-mail him almost every week to thank him for his votes or to give him input on issues and threats as I see them. He's GREAT! Thanks for the link.
[quote]
Too little, too late.
And this story will never be seen by most of the folks who read msm reportage where 'Seattle WTO riots' are synonymous with protesters (rather than police) gone amok. Any word about cases resulting from the Miami FTAA police brutalizations?
[/quote]
Well said!