ICYMI: Judge Orders NYPD, City Pay $75 Million for Illegal Summonses

By Sameer Rao Jun 14, 2017

A federal judge’s Monday (June 12) ruling finalized a $75 million settlement for a seven-year-old class-action lawsuit alleging the New York Police Department (NYPD) issued almost a million unnecessary criminal summonses to fill quotas.

Judge Robert Sweet of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York told the New York Daily News yesterday (June 13) that the settlement he confirmed for Stinson v. City of New York was "the second-largest in NYC history," adding that "the non-monetary benefits could be, in the court’s view, ‘a game-changer’ for NYC communities."

Reuters/U.S. News & World Report says the settlement covers nearly 900,000 summonses from 2007 to 2015, for minor offenses like public intoxication and disorderly conduct, that were later dismissed as unsubstantiated or lacking probable cause. The city enforced these citations as part of broken windows policing policies that disproportionately impact people of color.

The settlement disburses a maximum of $150 for each incident and mandates that the NYPD confirm that summons and stops quotas go against department policy. The total number of plaintiffs involved remains uncertain.