Stephan Lopez

Stephan Lopez

Wilson, I am sorry that you are unhappy with my former firm’s representation of your matter, especially since you decided to remain with them upon my departure and therefore I cannot look into any of the issues that you are now having with your case. I can tell you that I was very clear with you from the very beginning that when you bring forth a civil rights case, it often takes years to settle the case or to get to trial, if the case gets to trial at all. Just the pre-suit notice that an attorney has to send before filing suit requires that the Defendant(s) be given 6 months to deny the claim. When a Plaintiff has a parallel criminal case, often times the criminal case must be resolved first before a lawsuit is filed. There is no such thing as a “simple” civil rights case. Civil rights cases are very technical and frequently involve complex issues and that is why not many lawyers take on those type of matters. Additionally, in most cases there is not a “big pay day” for the Plaintiff(s) because many civil rights cases never get to trial, instead they get disposed of by way of summary judgment in favor of the defendant(s) who are often police officers. Summary Judgment is either granted or denied by the Judge who determines if there are factual issues that should go to a jury. What this means is that if the case gets disposed of by summary judgment, the case never gets to a jury and the Plaintiff recovers no money. Additionally, even if a Plaintiff gets to trial and prevails on the merits, a Plaintiff will usually not recover more than the actual damages that can be proven he or she suffered. For example, if a jury finds that a person was falsely arrested, wrongfully spent one night in jail, and suffered damages, that person is not likely to recover the amount of damages than another person would if a jury finds that the person was falsely arrested, wrongfully spent two years in jail and lost a $75,000 a year job. In an excessive force case a jury will not award a person who was thrown down to the ground the amount that they would award a person (or his relatives) who was killed through excessive deadly force. I sincerely wish you the best of luck with your case and in all your future endeavors.