Sept. 2002 Pershing Park Mass False Arrests

Jeffrey Barham, et al. v. Chief Charles H. Ramsey, et al.

United States District Court for the District of Columbia , Case No. 02-CV-2283 (class action)

This case has been settled!

After more than seven years of intense litigation, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund announced that it had reached a proposed settlement with the District of Columbia. The settlement will provide up to $18,000 in compensation for each person arrested in Pershing Park, plus will impose new policies and practices on the MPD and its attorneys. Those who were arrested will have their records expunged and their arrests declared null and void.

Click here for the Memorandum in Support of the Joint Motion for Preliminary Approval. Click here for the Court's Order granting Preliminary Approval.

Issues

Free Speech, Police Misconduct

On the morning of September 27, 2002, the D.C. Police Department working with the U.S. Park Police encircled Pershing Park, refused to allow anyone to leave and then arrested and hog-tied peaceful demonstrators, tourists, passers-by, and legal observers. Many were bound wrist to ankle on a police gym floor for upwards of 24 hours.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia certified this lawsuit as a class action with respect to the Pershing Park arrests, with attorneys at the Partnership for Civil Justice as class counsel.

The Pershing Park case received national and international focus after it was revealed by the PCJF that the MPD and its attorneys had engaged in widespread destruction and withholding of evidence. PCJF attorneys uncovered and exposed that the Command Center Running Resume, a comprehensive computer database repository of police activity and decisions on the day of the arrest, had been destroyed. PCJF attorneys, conducting a painstaking and detailed review of audio recordings also discovered that the system tapes of the days' dispatch and police radio communications appeared to have been edited. The District of Columbia was forced to concede that "some, if not all" of the scores of hours of radio recordings were missing data.

The Barham settlement exceeds $8.25 million. It comes on the heels of the announced $13.7 million settlement of the mass arrest class action claims in the case of Becker v. District of Columbia, which arose out of an April 15, 2000 mass arrest using the same unlawful police tactics. The PCJF is class counsel in the Becker case also.

The equitable relief provisions in these two class settlements imposes many new requirements on police and attorney practices in demonstration cases, including: That the MPD and the D.C. Office of the Attorney General is required to centrally index and log all materials collected and reviewed in demonstration cases, a measure calculated to create an audit trail that will prevent future acts of evidence destruction; funding is established for document management software to be used to log and index evidence; new mandatory requirements are imposed for the preservation and indexing of, and maintenance of the integrity of, the command center running resume, recorded police communications and video recorded evidence; and ongoing obligations for the Office of the Attorney General to report to PCJF attorneys every six months for the next 3 years on the implementation of these measures. There are additional training and accountability requirements for police personnel including requirements for training on lawful standard operating procedures in the context of First Amendment protected assemblies and mass demonstrations; and additional obligations when the MPD obtains the assistance of outside law enforcement agencies for demonstration related duties.

The arrests of the over 1,000 persons falsely arrested in these two mass arrests will be declared to be "null and void" by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and all arrest records will be expunged.

The Becker and Barham class action settlements constitute the largest protest-related settlements in U.S. history.

Updates & Commentary

Breaking News: PCJF files class action lawsuit for Oct. 1 Brooklyn Bridge Mass Arrest

Read the complaint filed for the Brooklyn Bridge mass arrest of Oct. 1, 2011. more >>

PCJF issues semi-annual report on D.C. policies and practices to prevent evidence loss and destruction

Report calls for criminal investigation and prosecution

"Truly Historic Settlement" Approved in Pershing Park Class Action

Judge says attorneys worked to "protect future generations of protesters."
U.S. Federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued final approval to an $8.25 million class action settlement of an eight-year-long and hard-fought litigation battle over the mass arrests of nearly 400 people in Pershing Park in Washington, D. more >>

Pershing Park Settlement Announced

Press Release
After more than seven years of class action litigation, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund today is pleased to announce a victorious settlement on behalf of a class of nearly 400 persons who were arrested in Pershing Park in September 2002. more >>

PCJF First Amendment Cases Spark Investigation

NY Times: 'Inquiry Raises More Questions in Case of Arrests After '02 Protest in Capital'
Retired federal judge Stanley Sporkin has issued an investigative report on the disappearance of evidence related to the false mass arrests at the September 2002 IMF / World Bank protests in Washington, D. more >>

Ramsey, Gainer Should Not Sit on Any Independent Review of Gates Arrest

Chiefs Responsible for More Than 1,000 False Arrests
The arrest of Harvard history professor Henry Louis Gates in his home in Cambridge sparked a nationwide discussion about police misconduct. more >>

Federal judge blasts D.C. Attorney General's Office for concealment of evidence

Judge: 'Case appears to be civil counterpart of Ted Stevens case'
A U.S. federal judge called for an investigation into the conduct of the Washington, D.C., Office of the Attorney General for its concealment of crucial evidence in a case brought by the PCJF arising from the mass arrest of nearly 400 peaceful demonstrators and others. more >>

Barham Class Successful in Lifting Stay of Discovery

Discovery, which has been stayed (prohibited) for over a year, is now authorized
Discovery, which has been stayed (prohibited) for over a year, is now authorized. Depositions of former Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and Assistant Police Chief Peter J. Newsham may now proceed. more >>

Top Park Police Official May be Sued Personally for Sept 27, 2002 Mass False Arrest

A critical ruling and great victory
In a critical ruling and great victory for the class plaintiffs, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion holding that the senior U.S. Park Police official, Richard Murphy, may be held personally and financially liable for his command of federal agents during the September 27, 2002 Pershing Park mass false arrest. more >>

Court Rejects FBI's Bid to be Dismissed from September 27, 2002 Class Action

Judge denies FBI motion
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan today denied the FBI's motion to be dismissed from the Barham class action lawsuit. more >>
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