Attorneys discuss $22M Settlement Reached with City of Chicago

[00:00:24.22] - Lance Northcutt
Ready? The most sacred obligation police officers in the city of Chicago have is the protection of innocent life. Every day on city streets, police officers, heroes, protect innocent life while risking their own. In all but the rarest of circumstances, we all benefit from their service. That didn't happen on June 16th, 2023. On June 16th, 2023, in the city of Chicago, a police officer disregarded his training, his experience, and the exercise of common sense to engage in a practice that was prohibited by law, prohibited by the very general orders that the Chicago police have, through their experience, promulgated and violated that sacred trust between Chicago police officers and the public that they serve. As a result of that, a young 25-year-old man named Angel Álvarez Montesinos paid the price with his life. This case began on June 16, 2023, in a police pursuit that went through residential streets in the city of Chicago, where a police officer in a Chicago police vehicle, blew through stop signs, drove into oncoming traffic, crossed double yellow lines, cut off other vehicles, all with lights and siren off. To pursue an offense that according to official Chicago police policy, you are not supposed to pursue for.

[00:02:25.24] - Lance Northcutt
What happened at the end of that pursuit, how it ended, It is the same narrative that we see time and time again when officers disregard their training. It was a tragedy. Angel had no idea what was coming down the street at him. He had no idea that a Chicago police officer was chasing at double the speed limit, and that that fleeing offender, driven by a juvenile, was about to strike his car. Angel lived for a few minutes, seconds, and died right there on a Chicago City street. The human carnage that we see from these illicit pursuits is exemplified in the loss that Angel's family has endured. Angel was a loving son, a loving brother, and someone who had a bright future ahead of him. He was a former college student, attended two prestigious universities, traveled the world, and was experiencing all the things that a 25-year-old young man in the prime of his life had to offer. His dream, his long-term dream of reuniting with his family, taking the skills that he had learned in university and applying them to his family business, all vanished in one instant. When push came to shove, the conduct of that officer was revealed through investigation and exposed to the point where the city of Chicago, correctly in our view, admitted responsibility for the conduct of the officer.

[00:04:23.01] - Lance Northcutt
Then on the eve of trial, when a Cook County jury was about to be impaneled and the city faced an exposure closure that could have gone into the nine figures. Judge Patricia Sheehan, the circuit Court of Cook County, intervened and ultimately brokered a settlement that was voted on approvingly by the city of Chicago today. Make no mistake, there are no winners in this case. The tragedy that has left a hole in the hearts of Angel's family remains and is permanent. It will never go The city of Chicago has lost, and despite the fact that the city has stepped up to avoid its exposure to the taxpayers, to take disciplinary measures against the officer involved, and by virtue of the fact that they had policies that when they are followed, prevents exactly this type of harm, Angel is still gone. With that, we'll take any questions that you might have.

[00:05:29.14] - Press/Reporter
What's their reaction of Angel's family to the confirmation of resettlement?

[00:05:34.11] - Lance Northcutt
Angel's family is glad that this is over. They're still processing it. Keep in mind, these events When someone dies tragically like Angel did, the grief is ongoing, the trauma is ongoing. While they are grateful that the legal aspect of this has come to a conclusion, and while they're hopeful that this type of reward will wake up others in the law enforcement community and policymakers to the fact that these tragedies have to be prevented, Ultimately, they just want Angel back. We've seen this in this case and in others like it. You could take any amount of money in the world and say, if you could go back, family, You had the choice between having one day with the person you've lost and this amount of money. There would never, ever be a moment's hesitation as to what they would choose.

[00:06:40.22] - Press/Reporter
Would you remind us what happened with the criminal investigation?

[00:06:45.07] - Lance Northcutt
Ultimately, there was a charge against a juvenile. The offender was 15 years old. My understanding is there was an adjudication in juvenile court. Those proceedings are confidential, so there's not much I can really to that other than this young man has got to grapple with what he's done and to what extent he has or will continue to and how the trajectory of his life is impacted, I can't speak to that other than this is a situation that, of course, he is responsible for, too.

[00:07:23.05] - Press/Reporter
But the officer in question was removed from his position. That he wasn't charged.

[00:07:30.00] - Lance Northcutt
The officer was never charged criminally. Our understanding is he was stripped of his police powers soon after this occurred, and there are still pending disciplinary measures being instituted against him. I believe that there has been a recommendation for separation from the police Department, but I don't believe anything has been decided conclusively on that issue. Should there be a criminal charges? We don't speak to that aspect. That's something for the state's attorney's office. To my knowledge, there has been no to the state's attorney's office on that. I don't want to cast dispersions one way or the other because that's outside the province of what we do. I will say, as a general matter, it's very difficult in many cases, and we've seen this not just in the city of Chicago, but elsewhere to charge criminally officers for certain conduct that doesn't rise to a very high level. As a practical matter, we have not seen ever a case, at least any one that we have experienced, where there has been a criminal charge associated with the conduct of an officer in a vehicle pursuit.

[00:08:40.05] - Press/Reporter
In council, some other men have seemed to be, in some Are you celebrating the job of the city lawyers in this agreement? Do you understand that the settlement was for a lesser amount of money that usually cases like this bring?

[00:08:59.01] - Lance Northcutt
Are you having an I think the city lawyers acquitted themselves very well in this case. They're smart lawyers, they're capable, and they understand the dynamics of limiting exposure. I mean, part of the risk of trial is that it tends to be an all or nothing proposition. If ultimately there was a defense verdict, which has happened in some cases, that's a zero. There is nothing more for the city to do, absent an appeal, it reverses that. But the problem here is the exposure was so great for this city, based on not just the liability and the egregious conduct of the officer involved, but of this family. What we're seeing again, and we saw this in a case that our firm handled that set a national record for verdict, when a Cook County jury sits and hears in excruciating detail what trauma looks like, and you've got a mother, a father, a sister, and a brother who are talking about all of the things that they miss every Christmas, every birthday, every, Hello, dad, how are you today? Hello, mom, I want to talk to you about something. All that being taken away in an instant. Juries react as they are instructed to do.

[00:10:16.25] - Lance Northcutt
They affix a number that they are told signifies the quantum of harm. In a wrongful death case, there's a presumption under the law that that amount is significant. Our firm has shown time and again what significant can really mean in actual dollars.

[00:10:33.05] - Press/Reporter
In addition to what you just said, I'm sure you are aware of the financial situation of the city of Chicago. The fact that for last year, they budgeted $85 million in this type of settlements when the amount of money surpassed $200 million. When you go and ask for $22 million or reach an agreement for $22 million, does it run through your mind or maybe your client's mind that the city is going to be It's such a big payment with money that clearly they come and account it for.

[00:11:06.28] - Lance Northcutt
What runs through my mind when and if I'm in front of a jury asking for an extraordinary amount of money is the loss that I'm describing. I don't ever go into a courtroom and say, I know it's real tough for this family, but let's give these folks a discount. Because ultimately, the choice of whether where we are in front of a jury has everything to do with the conduct of the defense in a case. Here, to the city's credit, they recognized that there was great exposure and there was a negotiated resolution. I don't believe that negotiated resolution ever would have come about but for the assistance of our judge. We had no intention of settling this case. We had every intention of trying it. It was the persistence and the patience and the wisdom of a learned jurist who ultimately brought the two sides together and said, This is one where we should explore a resolution.

[00:12:04.23] - Press/Reporter
Any reflection on the misbudgeting that you see that you have on this?

[00:12:09.18] - Lance Northcutt
I feel for the policymakers, truly. I feel for the officers who go out there every day and bust their tail doing the right thing, making hard decisions. These are not easy decisions that officers have to make. You can have all the orders and all the policies in the world, but you don't get handed a playbook for every scenario that unfolds out there in the street. Sometimes when officers hesitate, they can pay the price with their lives. I have every sympathy for these officers, and I regard them as heroes. But by the same token, there are other situations where lines are crossed that shouldn't be. This wasn't a judgment call that went wrong. This was the case of an officer who had no regard for his training, for the orders, for the things that are supposed to keep not just people like Angel safe, but officers safe. Because it's not just always the bad guy that gets hurt in these police pursuits. Very often it's an innocent person like Angel, but often it's another officer. There's got to be consideration for the preservation of human life. You cannot just go out there and gas pedal to the floor When something goes wrong, as we know they do in most police-pursued cases, and say, Well, it's all the bad guy.

[00:13:38.11] - Lance Northcutt
We had no role in this. Any other questions? All right, folks, thank you very much for being here today. Oh, I'm sorry. A couple of things and a couple of acknowledgments I'd like to make. My name is Lance Northcut. I'm joined by my partner, Aaron Boeder, and Emily Art from the law firm of Salvi Schostok & Pritchard. We also have our co-council who began this case that we work with very closely, whose contributions were immeasurable on my far right, Zane Smith. Zane Smith of Zane Smith & Associates, Boris Samarowf of Zane Smith & Associates, and Frank O'Caron, attorney at law. We thank them for their valuable assistance and partnership in this case. Thank you, folks.