Iudge Sets Aside $3.25M Award Against San Jose Police

A federal judge has set aside what he said was an "excessive" $3.25 million judgment against San Jose police officers accused of seizing a family's young children and improperly placing them in protective custody.

In a ruling made public Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte ordered a new trial on the damages the jury awarded after finding that San Jose police violated the civil rights of the family in June 2005.

At the time of the jury's verdict in April, San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle said the damages award was the largest against the police department in at least 15 years.

Whyte agreed with the city's argument that the damages were excessive and had been tainted by his own faulty jury instructions, but rejected a request to set aside the verdict altogether. The judge said the jury had a "legally sufficient basis" to find police "acted in a reckless disregard" of the family's rights.

But Whyte found the evidence did not support the jury's punishment. The punitive damages were "excessive to the extreme," he said.

"Here," Whyte wrote, "the officers did not act with evil intent or malice and made no threats of violence nor committed any affirmative acts of trickery or deceit."

Peter Johnson, the family's attorney, said no decision has been made on whether to appeal Whyte's ruling or to proceed to a new trial on damages.

The verdict came in a 2007 lawsuit filed by Tracy Watson and Renee Stalker, who said the family's rights were violated when five police officers and county social workers came to their home, entered without a warrant and placed two of their three children, a 3-year-old autistic son and an infant boy, into protective custody.

The city said police and social workers were responding to concerns about the family's 8-year-old daughter reported by school officials. The daughter was taken away the following day.

A San Jose judge initially determined the officers acted correctly, but when the family moved to Napa, social workers reviewed the case and returned the children.

The family then sued, settling for an undisclosed amount with county and school officials in 2007; the trial involved only claims against San Jose police.

Howard Mintz covers legal affairs for the Bay Area News Group. Contact him at 408-286-0236 or follow him at Twitter.com/hmintz