Police brutality lawsuit settlements have historically been very large, especially when excessive force is motivated by racial bias or was especially heinous. As an example, a Michigan man was awarded $36.6 Million in his police brutality lawsuit after being beaten, smashed into a wall, and tied down.
Unfortunately, it can take a very long time for police brutality lawsuits to settle. This doesn’t mean that the endless stream of expenses for housing, food, and medical bills stops, though.
Maybe you’ve lost your job because you had to unjustly wait in jail until your case could be heard, only to be found innocent. Now you’re scrambling to pay rent and not sure how you’re going to do it, but must wait years for your lawsuit award to come in. This story is all too common.
Police brutality lawsuit loans can help you keep yourself afloat until your settlement check comes in or a jury awards you your damages. A fast and easy application to Provident Lawsuit Loans is all that it takes.
Qualifying for Police Brutality Lawsuit Loans
Many states give police officers a lot of leeway in their defenses against plaintiffs’ claims in police brutality lawsuits. This can make establishing the basis for a police brutality lawsuit (liability) difficult.
Plaintiffs’ not only have to prove that they were wronged in some way shape or form with a preponderance of evidence standard, but they also have to prove that such wrongdoing was outside of the scope of the police officer’s qualified immunity.
To get approved for police brutality lawsuit funding, your attorney will need to provide Provident with some or all of the following information:
- Evidence of your claims or of officer’s liability (video of the incident, police reports, witness statements, press coverage, etc.)
- Medical records (physical or psychological)
- Case initiation documents (if your lawsuit was already filed)
Our expert underwriters have experience reviewing police brutality lawsuits and can often make decisions within hours of receiving a full case file.
Police Brutality Lawsuits
Police brutality has been a problem in America for decades, but current events have put the issue higher on the policy agenda than it’s been since the Rodney King riots of 1992.
Though police brutality lawsuits do deal with the police and often have criminal components, Provident can only provide funding on a personal injury lawsuit against police officers.
The problem is, most police departments will be very reluctant to admit fault in police brutality lawsuits, and the fact that they’re well-insured means they can stall for much longer than the average defendant.
Police brutality lawsuits do not always have to do with just excessive force. They may also deal with false arrests, malicious prosecution, or failure to intervene. All of these are examples of torts against you, and which make you eligible for police brutality lawsuit loans.
A tort is simply an injury to a person or property, and police officers often inflict torts in the normal course of their duties. In fact, in most states, they enjoy the privilege of [qualified immunity]( https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/qualified_immunity “Legal Information Institute”) which protects them from being sued for most torts which they do inflict.
It is up to you to prove that the officer whom you’re suing negligently or intentionally inflicted a harsher tort than was necessary to arrest or detain you.
If you were behaving in a way that incited the officer to inflict the tort, then you are likely not going to have a successful lawsuit. If you posed a threat in any way to the officer during his course of duty, then generally they can use excessive force to complete their duties.
Police brutality lawsuits are usually only successful if the plaintiff is found to be completely innocent. This question of liability plays out differently in different types of police brutality lawsuits. The distinctions between the following types of violations are important in figuring out whether or not you qualify for a lawsuit loan.
Excessive Force
Police brutality lawsuits for [excessive force]( http://civilrights.findlaw.com/civil-rights-overview/police-misconduct-and-civil-rights.html “FindLaw”) claims are often the most public and outrageous. In many ways, they’re also the most cut-and-dry: most of the time the officer’s intentions or biases do not matter. The central legal question is simply “was the amount of force used reasonable?”
Malicious Prosecution
Police brutality lawsuits of this nature deal more with constitutional issues and are controlled by the [Fourteenth Amendment]( https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv “Legal Information Institute”). This claim is structured by four basic components:
- Initiation of a criminal legal proceeding
- Without [probable cause](http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/probable-cause.html “FindLaw”)
- With malice
- and a judgment in favor of the victim
Police brutality lawsuit loans for Malicious Prosecution may require documentation of the intentions of the defendant before you are deemed eligible to qualify.
False Arrest
Also controlled by the constitution, this type of police brutality lawsuit deals with the [Fourth Amendment’s]( https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment “Legal Information Institute”) protections against illegal searches and seizures.
If an officer lacked [probable cause](http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/probable-cause.html “FindLaw”) to believe that you were committing a crime or had committed a crime, then they could be liable in a police brutality lawsuit.
Even if the information which caused an officer to believe you were committing or had committed a crime later turns out to be false, then there is still a chance the police officer could be granted qualified immunity—so long as they believed the false information to be accurate at the time of the incident.
Failure to Intervene
Police Brutality lawsuits often have multiple defendants because of this rule. If one police officer witnesses another violating someone’s civil rights, then they have a duty to stop and to prevent that violation. This law means that police officers can be held severally liable if you can prove that multiple officers knew about any of the other various violations listed above.