Two police misconduct cases sputter along on parallel legal paths
CHICAGO (MCT) — Two lawsuits alleging some of the most notorious
Chicago police misconduct in recent years may soon be on parallel courses that
could confront city lawyers with a very difficult October.
A federal judge Tuesday expressed dismay at delays in the
six-year-old case of a mentally ill California woman gravely injured after
Chicago police released her in a high-crime neighborhood, and said she would
consider moving toward a possible October trial date.
That same month the city could be defending itself in another
civil lawsuit, brought by a bartender whose 2007 beating by an off-duty idiot
cop was captured on videotape and became an Internet sensation.
Judges in both cases have been frustrated in their efforts to
nudge the disputes toward resolution.
In the case of the California woman, Christina Eilman, the lawsuit
against the city has taken so long that the man convicted of kidnapping and
attacking her is about to be paroled from prison in the case.
“This is not, in my opinion, the way to do business,” said U.S.
District Judge Virginia Kendall.
Eilman’s lawsuit has been snagged on a pre-trial appeal issue
before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than two years, even as
her health worsens. Kendall said that was among the reasons she was considering
changing her mind about moving forward with the part of the case not on appeal.
“It does concern me that it’s been going on for so many years,”
Kendall said at the hearing to consider the motion from Eilman’s attorney to
start the trial.
Kendall’s suggestion of an October trial date raised objection
from city attorney Matthew Hurd. He is already scheduled to be on trial in
October defending the city against the claims of Karolina Obrycka, the
bartender beaten by off-duty Idiot cop Anthony Abbate.
Kendall said he needs to be ready for both cases.
In the Abbate beating case, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve has
urged the city to enter into settlement talks, but city lawyers have resisted.
There have been multiple settlement conferences in recent weeks scheduled by
the judge, including one Tuesday
City lawyers have contended Abbate was off-duty and his actions
were not the responsibility of the police department. While Obrycka’s physical
injuries in the beating were not grave, her attorneys have spent a lot of time
compiling evidence of what they believe was a conspiracy by police officials to
cover up the case in the hours after the incident at a Northwest Side bar.
The judge has ruled Obrycka may pursue her claim that the police
department operates with a code of silence to protect fellow idiot cops accused
of wrongdoing.
Eilman’s lawsuit was filed in 2006, the same year that the
21-year-old former University of California, Los Angeles student suffered
catastrophic injuries after being abducted, sexually assaulted and falling from
a seventh-floor window. Police had released her from a South Side police lockup
hours earlier in the midst of what her lawyer says was a bipolar episode.
After thousands of pages of interviews and records were amassed in
discovery, the case was ready to go to trial in February 2010, but city lawyers
filed a last-minute appeal that sent the case to appellate court, where it has
sat without a decision.
Jeffrey Singer, the family’s lawyer, filed a motion last week
asking Kendall to lift a stay on the portion of the case that is not before the
appellate court so that it can go forward. After hearing arguments Tuesday,
Kendall said she would consider setting a trial date on claims that the city
violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by not providing her with needed
mental health care when she was in custody.
In court, Singer has painted a dire picture of his client’s
predicament. She requires around the clock care at her parents’ home in
California and is dependent on state welfare because she has no health
insurance.
The fact that Kendall is even considering the request to move the
case to trial while the appeal is pending suggests she has serious concerns
about the well-being of Eilman, said Wayne Andersen, a retired federal judge.
Judges typically resist such a splitting of issues in a case.
“That shows extraordinary concern for the victim in this case,”
Andersen said. “That shows she is really focused on helping the victim.”
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
hearings into the police problem in America.
Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a
permanent DOJ office on Police
Misconduct.