Article by Katherine Macfarlane
Breonna Taylor was killed in her home during the botched execution of a no-knock warrant. However, any civil rights claims arising from her death would likely fail in court because of qualified immunity, which often shields officers from civil damages, and City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, which blocks reform that might be achieved through injunctive relief. Despite these obstacles, her family settled with the City of Louisville for $12 million and Louisville agreed to change the way it executes no-knock warrants. The reform that began with the settlement culminated in state legislation that codifies its terms. This Article is the first to examine the circumstances that made the Taylor family's settlement possible.
George Floyd's family settled the claims arising out of his death for $27 million. Like the Taylor settlement, the Floyd settlement has faced significant criticism. When civil rights actions arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 settle, cities--not officers--pay, often shifting the cost of constitutional violations back to the communities most injured by police violence.
Resistance to civil rights settlement is not new. Beginning with Owen Fiss's article Against Settlement, civil rights cases became the quintessential actions that require adjudication's public reckoning. Yet the anti-settlement narrative often overlooks the interests of civil rights plaintiffs and does not consider what Carrie Menkel-Meadow describes as settlement's moral value. Notably, the Taylor and Floyd families' settlements avoided qualified immunity and bars on injunctive relief, were reached in public, and accomplished the objectives of the family members who settled. Focusing on these settlements, this Article studies the dealmaking behind them and tests the validity of settlement skepticism.
About the Author
2022 Katherine Macfarlane, Associate Professor of Law, Southern University Law Center. I am grateful to the Louis A. Berry Civil Rights and Justice Institute for its support of this project. I also thank Alyson Acheson and Victoria Haneman.
Citation
97 Tul. L. Rev. 1 (2022)