2d Circuit upholds $355,000 punitive damages award in police beating case

The Second Circuit has sustained a punitive damages award in the amount of $355,000 where a jury found that three police officers subjected the plaintiff to excessive force and then took steps to cover up the unlawful conduct.

The case is Jennings v. Yurkiw, issued on November 17. The jury found the officers beat up plaintiff so badly in the context of a domestic dispute in Brooklyn that he fell in and out of consciousness. The officers then fudged the paperwork to make it look like it was plaintiff's fault in trying to run away when the officers said he was under arrest. Video evidence proved that plaintiff was beaten so badly he could not walk on his own and therefore could not have run away. The Second Circuit ruling details other ways the police covered up their beating. 

There were two trials. The first trial yielded a jury verdict for plaintiff in the amount of $500,000 in compensatory damages and $2.5 million in punitive damages spread out over three defendants. Post-trial, the court reduced the compensatories to $115,000 and the punitives to $140,000. Plaintiff opted for a second trial (which is your right if you don't like the way the trial court reduced the damages). At the second trial, the jury awarded $90,000 in compensatory damages and $355,000 in punitives. Note that the second jury was not as generous as the first jury.

The City appeals from the $355,000 punitive damages award, arguing it shocks the conscience, which is the legal standard. The Second Circuit has taken a skeptical eye toward punitive damages in recent years, concerned that the jury usually has no concrete legal standards to based its decision on, and the belief that some punitive damages awards are just too high. The City was counting on that in this appeal, but the Second Circuit (Parker, Menashi and Lohier) rejects that argument and finds this amount was appropriate in light of the seriousness of the beating and coverup by the police officers. Here are some excerpts from the ruling:

The officers attempt to diminish the seriousness of their misconduct by characterizing their unprovoked beating as “a few minutes of violence against [Jennings]." But, “a few minutes of violence” is not a trivial matter. The jury heard testimony that Jennings received an unprovoked beating at the hands of the officers. It heard that LaGrandier snatched Jennings’s three-year-old son from his arms, grabbed Jennings and pinned him against the wall. Yurkiw then struck Jennings in the face with such force that he fell to the ground, at which point he began experiencing “all kind of blows coming from everywhere.” The jury heard testimony from Jennings that he never threw punches at any of the officers, attempted to flee, or otherwise resisted arrest. Even though Jennings had  visible injuries, he was brought straight to the police precinct, placed in a cell, chained to a bar, and denied the medical attention he requested.

Moreover, the Court said, the other officers did not intervene to stop the attack, and they covered up their misconduct by falsifying charges against plaintiff, providing a false account of the beating, and perjured trial testimony. The latter point is significant. You don't see too often the Court of Appeals considering trial behavior as part of the punitive damages equation. But it is fair to say the Court is very unhappy with how the officers handled this, and they allow the $355,000 in punitives to stand.