AdvertisementFew cases win outrightBusiness Insider analyzed a sample of nearly 1,500 federal Eighth Amendment lawsuits — including every appeals court case with an opinion we could locate filed from 2018 to 2022 and citing the relevant precedent-setting Supreme Court cases and standards — and found that a settlement like Smith's was exceedingly rare.
BI was able to identify just six cases that settled for $50,000 or more; half of those, including the England case, involved prisoner deaths.
A New York prisoner won $2,000 for claims that he suffered debilitating pain while prison officials delayed treating his degenerative osteoarthritis.
BI interviewed 10 attorneys who represented prisoners or their families in cases that prevailed; they all said the cases would have struggled to succeed without counsel.
The underlying Eighth Amendment claim, he said, entailed abuse with the potential to infuriate even jurors sympathetic to law enforcement.
Persons:
Joshua England's, I've, he'd, Joshua England didn't, He'd, Joseph Harp, Robert Balogh, Balogh, Nick Oxford, Christy Smith, Joan Kane, Charles Goodwin, Smith's, Beth Hardtke, —, Clinton, Victor Glasberg, Chris Smith, Smith, Darren Smith, Nick, Lawrence Piersol, Tony Johnson, Joseph Long, Johnson, Long, Chris Smith's, Thad Delaughter, didn't, Thad Delaughter's, Gloria Perry, Perry, William Kent Dean, Cynthia Dean, Dean, Dean hadn't, Diane Wood, Wexford, Terri Hardy, Josh England's, Paola Armeni, They're, Carlos Perez Jr, John Ruiz Ramos, Ramos, Perez, Armeni, Stacey Richards, birdshot, Richards
Organizations:
Joseph Harp Correctional, Business, Oklahoma Department of Corrections, England, Choctaw Nation, Western, Court, BI, New York, Circuit, Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Nick Oxford, South, Louisiana Middle, The Louisiana Department of Public Safety, Corrections, Mississippi Department of Corrections, Mississippi Southern District, Wexford Health, Wexford, Illinois Department of Corrections, Eastern, Eastern District of, California Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, Ely State, Nevada Department of Corrections
Locations:
England, Oklahoma, Fairview ., United, Oregon, Nevada, Wisconsin, Mississippi, South Dakota, Virginia, Louisiana, Angola, Illinois, Wexford, California, Eastern District, Eastern District of California, Las Vegas, Ely, Clark County