If Pittsburgh City Council authorizes a $115,000 payment this week to settle a false arrest lawsuit, the cost of resolving such litigation will be on track to surpass $500,000 this year and eclipse payouts in the previous three years combined, records show.
Council is considering settlements totaling $260,000, based on complaints of a false arrest and a traffic crash involving an officer. It approved an $11,000 payment to a man who said he was injured when a police car hit him as he crossed a Downtown street in February 2007.
Two jury awards this year against city officers totaled $224,016. A lawyer for a woman who accused an officer of sexually assaulting her in December 2011 said she has agreed to a $35,000 settlement with the city.
All told, the city could pay $530,016 for the lawsuits.
"We've been on an upward trajectory for about the past six years," Mayor Bill Peduto said. "These are a number of civil rights violations and also incidents involving confrontations. That is something that will take years to reverse."
Council is set to vote on Tuesday on whether to pay $115,000 to Christine Condarcure, 50, of North Apollo. She spent five days in the Allegheny County Jail because Officer Anthony Scarpine charged her with witness intimidation and simple assault, and accused her of threatening him.
Scarpine claimed he saw her strike a witness outside her son's preliminary hearing in May 2010, but surveillance video showed that Condarcure only brushed against the witness, and Scarpine did not see it. Condarcure sued in September 2012, naming the city, Scarpine, former police Chief Nate Harper and Detective David Honick, who arrested her son.
"There has been an uptick in suits, just as the numbers show, but the Law Department is being as conservative as it can with the settlement payouts," Peduto spokesman Tim McNulty said.
Nine cases were filed against police officers this year, a city spokeswoman said, down from 12 such claims and a total of 32 civil actions against officers in 2013. Eighteen claims were filed in 2012, and 13 in 2011, according to police bureau annual reports. From 2011 to 2013, records show the city paid $525,206 in settlements or other payments in cases against officers.
Attorney Bryan Campbell, who represents Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1, said some settlements this year stem from old incidents. He said the size of awards in two jury verdicts could be challenged and reduced.
"I just think there's a spurt here, where there are a number of lawsuits being filed," Campbell said.
Weighing the costs
The city solicitor advises council about settling cases, said Councilman Dan Gilman of Shadyside. If a jury verdict would cost more, "or we would spend more money internally defending ourselves ... sometimes it's important to settle," Gilman said.
Yet council must be cautious, he said: "We do not want to send the message that we're easy to settle with and invite frivolous lawsuits."
Claims resolved this year include false arrest, lacking probable cause for an arrest, excessive force and traffic crashes. Peduto said changes in the way the city recruits, trains and promotes officers could help.
"We know the rank-and-file is hungry for new leadership that will stem the growth of these incidents," McNulty said.
Peduto has said he wants to hire a police chief by Labor Day. Harper resigned last year amid a corruption investigation and is serving an 18-month prison sentence for establishing a police slush fund he tapped for personal use and failing to file tax returns.
More than money
Pittsburgh budgets about $1.5 million a year to pay for all judgments against the city, including those involving police, Controller Michael Lamb said. Last year, the city paid slightly more than $1 million in judgments. That was under the $1.3 million budgeted, he said. This year, the city has paid $250,000.
"This year it looks like, from what you're seeing in the pipeline, there will be a significant payout. But at this point in the year, we're doing better than what we did last year," Lamb said.
University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris said the cause for such cases originates with the police department, but the city faces the consequences.
"When somebody else pays, they don't care. Why should they? It's not a cost to them," Harris said.
Campbell said the city typically indemnifies officers, paying costs, attorneys' fees and verdict awards. That doesn't mean that lawsuits don't affect officers, he said.
"What kind of a message do all these suits send to the officers? They don't make them better officers; what they make them are reluctant officers. Their attitude is, 'If I'm going to be second-guessed, if every little thing I do is going to be subject to a lawsuit, why am I going to be a proactive police officer?' "
Margaret Harding is a Trib Total Media staff writer.
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