Appellate Victory in Police Negligence Case

Walker, Hamilton & Koenig Wins Appellate Case Before Ninth Circuit

On August 4, 2014, the attorneys at Walker, Hamilton & Koenig, LLP achieved yet another victory before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, adding to its decades of appellate success. In this case, WHK attorneys represent the parents of a young man who was arrested by the police in his hometown of Lathrop, California. At the time of his arrest, he was suffering from a mental illness, a fact that the police knew. But instead of taking him home or seeking mental help for him, the police arrested him as a drunk and threw him in a holding cell for the night. In the morning, without ever giving him a mental health examination, the police released him, miles from his home and without money, shoes, or a cellular phone. It was the last time he was seen alive. He was found dead days later in the San Joaquin river.

On behalf of his parents, WHK attorneys brought suit alleging a multitude of constitutional and state law claims. The defendants moved for summary judgment, lost, and then appealed their loss to the Ninth Circuit. After sitting in the Ninth Circuit for two years and following extensive briefing, the case was finally argued on July 9, 2014. Less than a month later, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion rejecting the appeal in its entirety. The case will now go back to the trial court and be set for trial so that the plaintiffs may finally achieve justice for their son.