The city of Chicago’s Finance Committee has granted preliminary approval to four settlements, collectively worth more than $6.65 million, to settle lawsuits alleging police misconduct.
However, the plaintiffs in the case won’t be the only ones getting paid under the deals. Their attorneys, most of whom market their services to those who wish to sue police agencies, also stand to collect a sizable chunk of the payouts.
On Sept. 3, the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee cleared the settlement deals to advance to the full City Council. The City Council is next scheduled to meet on Sept. 9.
Michael Oppenheimer
| Erickson & Oppenheimer
The settlements were introduced by the Chicago Department of Law, seeking to end litigation dating back to 2016.
The settlements include a $3.8 million payout to Laura Kubiak and her attorneys, with the firm of O’Malley & Madden and the Hamilton Law Office, both of Chicago.
Kubiak and the city have had a long running court battles, dating back to 2014. Kubiak had worked in the Chicago Police Department’s Office of News Affairs as a department spokesperson and media liaison.
In 2012, Kubiak had an altercation in a hallway with another officer and media liaison, identified as Veejay Zala. According to court documents, Zala had run toward Kubiak, berating her, and demanding, “Who the f*** do you think you are, you stupid b****?”
Court documents also indicate Zala allegedly raised his hand as if to strike her during the altercation, before another officer intervened and broke up the altercation.
When Kubiak and another officer reported the incident to the police department’s Office of Internal Affairs, Kubiak alleges the department responded by reassigning her to patrol on an overnight shift in an allegedly dangerous neighborhood.
Kubiak, with her attorney Megan O’Malley, then sued the city. The case landed in federal court, but judges there ultimately said she did not have a claim for violation of her rights.
In 2015, Kubiak and O’Malley, with the Hamilton Law Office, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, accusing the department of improper retaliation.
A Cook County jury then awarded Kubiak $1.4 million.
However, the size of the settlement increased as Kubiak’s attorney fees and other costs were added in.
O’Malley has stated publicly the city could have avoided the entire court battle if it had just given Kubiak her job back immediately.
According to her online biography, O’Malley specializes in lawsuits over civil rights and employment law violations, including discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
Her colleagues on the case, with the Hamilton Law Office, say they specialize in lawsuits against the police, representing “victims of police abuse.” The firm’s principal, Torreya L. Hamilton, has served as a prosecutor for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and has worked as a lawyer within Chicago Department of Law. According to Hamilton’s online bio, she defended the city against police misconduct cases, before leaving to found her firm, which now sues the city and other government agencies for alleged police misconduct.
Additionally, the city agreed to pay $2.25 million to the mother of Paul O’Neal Jr., a man who in 2016 was shot to death by Chicago Police officers after he smashed a stolen Jaguar into police vehicles, after officers had attempted a traffic stop, and then fled on foot after he crashed shortly after.
The Independent Police Review Authority determined officers were justified in shooting O’Neal.
However, IRPA later recommended the officers involved, Michael Coughlin Jr. and Jose Torres, be fired for allegedly endangering lives by opening fire on the car driven by O’Neal after he used it to ram their vehicles.
O’Neal’s mother, Tanisha Gibson, was represented by attorney Michael D. Oppenheimer, of the firm of Erickson & Oppenheimer, of Chicago.
Prior to launching his private practice, specializing in criminal defense and civil rights lawsuits, Oppenheimer worked for 12 years as a prosecutor with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. According to his online biography, Oppenheimer has won acclaim for “racking up not-guilty verdicts” for those accused of high-profile and heinous crimes, including those up on first degree murder charges. His online biography boasts of having represented a man described by a federal judge as “probably the biggest drug dealer in the United States of America.”
He also has filed several prior lawsuits against the city of Chicago over alleged incidents of police misconduct.
The Chicago Finance Committee also recommended approval of settlements in two other cases.
Those included:
- $350,000 to Stephanie Bures and her two minor children, as well as Kiqiana Jackson, Jessica Jackson and Arkeya Blanchard. Bures and the other plaintiffs sued the city after she claims police officers wrongly raided her home during one of her children’s birthday parties. They were represented by attorney Al Hofeld Jr., of Chicago.
- $250,000 to the family of Martice Milliner, who was shot and killed by police officers in 2015. Police said Milliner pointed a gun at officers before they fired. Milliner’s family said he was at a birthday party, and did not provoke officers.Milliner’s estate administrator Khadija Farmer was represented by attorney Carlton Odim, of the Odim Law Offices.
Court records indicate the city hired the firm of Seyfarth Shaw LLP in the federal Kubiak litigation, and hired the firm of Jackson Lewis PC, to defend against Kubiak’s retaliation claims in Cook County court.
In the O’Neal litigation, the city and police officer defendants were represented by attorneys with the firms of Nathan & Kamionski and Johnson & Bell, both of Chicago.
In the Milliner lawsuit, the city hired, but later terminated, the firm of Henderson Parks LLC, of Chicago, according to federal court records.
And in the Bures lawsuit, attorneys from the firm of Querrey & Harrow Ltd., of Chicago, defended the city and police officer defendants.