Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys represented a young man who was wrongfully stopped by two City of Detroit patrol officers after which the young man was punched in the head. The young man was then arrested and held overnight in police custody. After being let out the following morning, he visited a local hospital emergency room and was diagnosed with a fractured jaw. Fortunately, the young man’s jaw healed in approximately 6-8 weeks without residual problems. Prior to trial, defense counsel continually argued that the case was one of limited damages due to their client’s favorable recovery and as such defendant’s offered relatively little money to settle the case. Believing that the case was about much more than a broken jaw, with the permission of their client, they rejected the settlement offer and proceeded to trial.
During trial in the federal district court in Detroit, Michigan, Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys spent much time showing videotape footage, cross examining the two defendant officers, catching the officers in lie after lie demonstrating to the jury the tremendous effect the occurrence had on their client mentally and emotionally. They established that the stop was unlawful, the arrest was unlawful, their client was treated abusively by the defendants and that the abuse had a lasting effect on their client thereby causing nightmares, anxiety, fear of police officers and a feeling of helplessness. In the end, the jury agreed with Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys and awarded Plaintiff $2.5 million dollars. By: Robert Giroux, Partner Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys/Posted September 22, 2014