Lawyers Get $1.4M in Attorney Fees for Winning $183K Taser Case
Lawyers who won $183,000 for the family of a man who died in 2005 after being Tasered dozens of times by Salinas, Calif., police have now been awarded $1.4 million in legal fees.
A federal judge yesterday ordered Taser International Inc. to pay the seven-figure amount, acknowledging that the $1,423,000 attorney fee is far more than the amount won by the family of Robert Heston. However, he said the award was appropriate because the lawyers took a significant risk in pursuing the case, which provided a significant public benefit, reports the Monterey Herald.
The Arizona-based company says it will appeal the award to plaintiffs attorneys John Burton and Peter Williamson.
“The case marked the first time Taser was found negligent in a death related to the use of its stun guns,” the newspaper writes.
Heston’s family originally was awarded more than $5 million in a jury verdict last year, for failing to warn Salinas police of the danger of multiple use of a Taser. However, U.S. District Judge James Ware reduced the award to $183,000, eliminating punitive damages, after finding that Heston, who was high on methamphetamine at the time, was 85 percent negligent in the incident.
Although the article does not explain the legal basis for the award of attorney’s fees, it appears to have been made under a civil rights statute providing for the defendant to pay a prevailing plaintiff’s legal costs.
Related coverage:
Lawyers and Settlements (Nov. 2008): “Taser Death: Attorney discusses the first successful Verdict Against Taser International”
Californian: “Settlement reached in Seaside man’s Taser-related death”
