NSB in the News

On Friday, February 26, D.C. Superior Court Judge John M. Mott issued his post-trial decision awarding Mr. Tribble $13.2 million to compensate him for 25 years of wrongful imprisonment, a “journey of injustice” which “subjected Mr. Tribble to all the horror, degradation, and threats to personal security and privacy inherent in prison life, each heightened by his…

The City of Los Angeles approved a $16.7 million settlement to compensate NSB client Kash Delano Register for the over 34 years he spent wrongly imprisoned for the 1979 robbery and murder of 79-year-old Jack Sasson. This is believed to be the largest individual civil rights settlement ever in Los Angeles. Mr. Register was 18…

On November 30, in recognition of the NSB’s expertise in wrongful conviction law, Judge Joanna Seybert awarded the firm a total of nearly $5 million in fees and costs for its 8 years of work on civil rights claims made by John Restivo and Dennis Halstead. Mr. Restivo and Mr. Halstead each spent 18 years…

A day after a federal jury found that District of Columbia police officers had fabricated evidence and hid exculpatory evidence during Donald Gates’s trial for a 1981 rape and murder, the government settled Mr. Gates’s claims for $16.65 million. Neufeld Scheck & Brustin will formally request an audit of old homicide cases investigated by the…

In September 2015 NSB client Sedrick Courtney won an $8 million settlement from the City of Tulsa. Mr. Courtney spent over 15 years in prison after a forensic hair analyst falsely claimed a hair from Mr. Courtney bore unusual similarities to a hair from the crime scene. Mr. Courtney proved his innocence and was exonerated…

NSB Partner Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann and Associate Alexandra Lampert co-authored Chapter Two, “Procedural Guide to Section 1983 Litigation in Federal Court,” drawing on the firm’s experience litigating civil rights cases to provide guidance to other litigators on all procedural topics involved in federal court litigation, from filing a complaint to litigating motions and appeals. ABA…

Months after a D.C. Superior Court Judge awarded NSB client Kirk Odom a total of $9,154,500 for damages he suffered while wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, the Court agreed to reverse its prior ruling and added an additional $500,000 to what already was the largest award in history under the District’s Unjust Imprisonment Act.

Shariff Wilson’s wrongful conviction at age 15 of the murder of his friend’s mother, sister and another girl was vacated in February 2014 after he served 22 years in prison when DNA evidence proved his innocence. Less than a year after release, Mr. Wilson succumbed to illness and passed away. On July 15, 2015, Tiffany…

In May 2015, Byron Halsey won a $12.5 million settlement of his 2009 lawsuit against detectives from the City of Plainfield, NJ and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, who used illegal tactics to prosecute and frame him as the murderer of his girlfriend’s children. Mr. Halsey spent nearly 22 years incarcerated in New Jersey jails…

The National Law Journal has released its list of the top verdicts of 2014, including two of NSB’s recent trial wins. Jeffrey Deskovic’s $40m verdict against Putnam County Investigator Dan Stephens and Putnam County ranked 51st on the National Law Journal’s list, and John Restivo and Dennis Halstead’s $36m verdict against the Estate of Detective…

On Thursday, February 26, NSB filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of David Ganek, former principal owner of Level Global Investors, L.P. The suit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York against several FBI agents and SDNY prosecutors, alleges that the FBI and United States Attorney’s Office fabricated information to…

On February 27, a D.C. Superior Court judge ordered the District of Columbia to pay $9.2 million in damages to Kirk Odom under the District’s Unjust Imprisonment Act—the largest award issued under the Act, and one of the largest non-jury awards ever in a U.S. wrongful imprisonment case. The court rejected the District’s arguments that…

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana has granted NSB clients’ motion for partial summary judgment against Marlin Gusman, the Sheriff of Orleans Parish, in the case brought by Coast Guard Commander William Goetzee’s surviving relatives for his 2011 suicide at the problem-plagued jail.  The Court agreed with the plaintiffs that the…

A federal jury has awarded Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent 16-and-a-half years wrongfully imprisoned for the rape and murder of a high school classmate before DNA testing proved him innocent, $40 million plus $1.65 million in stipulated lost wages for a total of $41,650,000—the largest wrongful conviction jury verdict in U.S. history.  The jury found former…

The New York SuperLawyers Magazine has named Peter Neufeld, Barry Scheck, and Nick Brustin 2014 “SuperLawyers,” and has named Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann and Emma Freudenberger “Rising Stars” in the field of civil rights.

The National Law Journal has selected Neufeld Scheck & Brustin to its inaugural list of the nation’s top 50 trial firms, recognizing the firm’s recent record in complex, high-stakes plaintiff’s cases. Read more here.

The Illinois State Police have agreed to pay $40 million to five men who were wrongfully convicted of rape and murder as teenagers and served a combined 80 years in prison before DNA testing proved their innocence.  The lawsuits alleged that police had coerced false confessions from three of the five plaintiffs, which led to…

Monroe County and the City of Rochester have agreed to pay NSB Client Frank Sterling $8.625 to settle his constitutional claims against the officers involved in Mr. Sterling’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment. The real perpetrator has since confessed and pleaded guilty to the murder for which Mr. Sterling was imprisoned. Click here to read article.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled today that Byron Halsey’s wrongful conviction case must proceed to trial, recognizing for the first time in that Circuit that fabrication of evidence by a police officer violates the Due Process Clause and is actionable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. With this decision, the…

A federal jury has returned a $36 million verdict for John Restivo and Dennis Halstead, who spent eighteen years in prison for a 1984 rape and murder before DNA testing proved their innocence. The jury concluded that Nassau County Detective Joseph Volpe, now deceased, had planted hairs and hid evidence suggesting Mr. Restivo’s and Mr….

The State of New York has agreed to pay $3.375 million to settle Mr. Tankleff’s claim under section 8-b of New York’s Court of Claims Act, which provides a remedy for people wrongfully convicted of crimes. Mr. Tankleff also has a federal civil rights lawsuit pending against Suffolk County and former Suffolk County Detective K….

The Trial Lawyer, the magazine of The National Trial Lawyers, has named Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck two of America’s 100 most influential trial lawyers. NSB congratulates Peter and Barry on this honor.

October Term 2014 will see two NSB alums working at the United States Supreme Court. Current NSB Cochran Fellow Aaron Scherzer will clerk for Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Former Summer Associate Joshua Matz will clerk for Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. NSB congratulates both Aaron and Joshua on this honor.

The New York Super Lawyers Magazine has named Peter Neufeld, Barry Scheck, and Nick Brustin “Super Lawyers,” and Emma Freudenberger a “Rising Star,” in the area of Civil Rights and First Amendment Law.