NSB in the News

In February 2019, NSB secured an unprecedented $21 million out-of-court settlement with the City of Simi Valley, California on behalf of client Craig Coley. Mr. Coley was wrongly convicted of the brutal 1978 murders of a woman and her 4-year-old son and served 39 years in prison before he was pardoned by California Governor Jerry Brown, after…

In August 2018, NSB won a $4.75 million settlement for the estate of 18-year-old Victoria Herr, who died from complications of heroin withdrawal after five days in the Lebanon County, Pennsylvania jail. Consistent with a devastating pattern around the country, the jail’s correctional and medical staff ignored her deteriorating condition and failed to take the…

On August 17, 2018, in a precedent-setting decision, the Ninth Circuit reinstated NSB client Susan Mellen’s wrongful conviction lawsuit. Ms. Mellen, a single mother of three, spent more than 17 years incarcerated for a brutal murder she didn’t commit. She was convicted by the perjured testimony of June Patti, an infamous liar with a long…

On June 6, 2018, NSB client Anthony Wright won a $9.85 million settlement to resolve his federal civil rights claims against the City of Philadelphia and several of its homicide detectives. Mr. Wright was wrongfully convicted of the 1991 rape and murder of an elderly North Philadelphia woman in 1993, and served 25 years in…

In April 2018, Suffolk County, New York approved a $10 million settlement for NSB client Martin Tankleff, to resolve his federal civil rights claims against the County and several of its police detectives. Mr. Tankleff was wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents in 1990 and spent 17 years in prison before his conviction was overturned….

On April 6, 2018, after a month-long trial, a federal jury in Oakland, California awarded $10 million in damages to NSB client Jamal Trulove, who spent six years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder. The jury based its damages award on its determination that two San Francisco Police Department detectives had withheld favorable…

In March 2018, NSB negotiated a $12.5 million global settlement with the City and State of New York on behalf of client Clifford Jones, who spent 29 years incarcerated for a murder/rape he did not commit because of serious investigative misconduct perpetrated by the New York Police Department. Mr. Jones is represented by NSB partners…

In December 2017, NSB negotiated an unprecedented $14 million settlement against the City of St. Louis and the State of Missouri on behalf of the family of NSB client George Allen, who passed away in 2016. Mr. Allen was wrongfully convicted of the 1982 rape and murder of a St. Louis court reporter. The settlement…

In October 2017, NSB reached a $12.25 million settlement with the City of New York on behalf of client Andre Hatchett, who spent 25 years wrongfully imprisoned for a Brooklyn murder. Mr. Hatchett’s conviction was overturned in 2016 when the Conviction Review Unit of the Kings County District Attorney’s Office reviewed his case and unearthed…

NSB client Scott Lewis won a $9.5 million settlement from the City of New Haven after spending more than 19 years in prison for a brutal double homicide he did not commit. The settlement came early in discovery before NSB had taken a single deposition. Mr. Lewis had been set up by a corrupt cop…

This year NSB client Reginald Connor won a combined 11 million dollar settlement award from the state and City of New York. Mr. Connor spent approximately 16 years incarcerated and another 6.5 years on parole for a 1992 kidnapping he did not commit before he was exonerated in 2015. Mr. Connor’s wrongful conviction was the…

The City of New York agreed to a $13 million settlement with NSB client Tiffany Wilson for the loss of her brother, Sharrif Wilson, and for the more than 20 years he spent wrongfully incarcerated for the sickening triple murder and sexual assault of the mother, sister, and cousin of his best friend—crimes that DNA…

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed a 2014 jury verdict award to John Restivo and Dennis Halstead. Mr. Restivo and Mr. Halstead were wrongly convicted in 1986 and spent nearly 18 years in prison for a rape and murder DNA later proved they did not commit. The decision upholds the jury’s finding that…

On August 5, 2016, NSB and cocounsel Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin, LLP procured a 6.2 million dollar award for Freddie Peacock, who served nearly 6 years in prison and an additional 10 years on parole for a crime he did not commit. Decades after his release from prison, Mr. Peacock was finally cleared by DNA…

On August 1, 2016, NSB and cocounsel Lathrop & Gage procured a monumental 16.5 million dollar settlement, with an additional 4 million dollars pending the resolution of appeal, for the families of Larry Ruffin, Bobby Ray Dixon, and Phillip Bivens. Mr. Ruffin, Mr. Dixon and Mr. Bivens collectively served 83 years in prison for crimes…

On July 6, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver ruled that NSB client Debra Milke had properly alleged three separate theories of widespread systemic misconduct in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, dating long before and long after Ms. Milke’s 1990 wrongful conviction. Overall, Judge Silver has ruled that Ms. Milke has stated viable claims for…

On March 10, Neufeld Scheck & Brustin clients Margaret Goetzee Nagle and John Eric Goetzee won a $1.75 million settlement from Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman for failing to prevent the 2011 suicide of their brother, United States Coast Guard Commander William Goetzee.  Mr. Goetzee was at the jail awaiting a court date on charges…

On March 10, Judge William H. Pauley III issued a decision allowing NSB client David Ganek to proceed with his lawsuit against the FBI and federal prosecutors for the 2010 raid that shut down his hedge fund, Level Global. In his suit, Ganek asserts that the government fabricated evidence in order to persuade a judge…

On Friday, February 26, D.C. Superior Court Judge John M. Mott issued his post-trial decision awarding Mr. Tribble $13.2 million to compensate him for 25 years of wrongful imprisonment, a “journey of injustice” which “subjected Mr. Tribble to all the horror, degradation, and threats to personal security and privacy inherent in prison life, each heightened by his…

The City of Los Angeles approved a $16.7 million settlement to compensate NSB client Kash Delano Register for the over 34 years he spent wrongly imprisoned for the 1979 robbery and murder of 79-year-old Jack Sasson. This is believed to be the largest individual civil rights settlement ever in Los Angeles. Mr. Register was 18…

On November 30, in recognition of the NSB’s expertise in wrongful conviction law, Judge Joanna Seybert awarded the firm a total of nearly $5 million in fees and costs for its 8 years of work on civil rights claims made by John Restivo and Dennis Halstead. Mr. Restivo and Mr. Halstead each spent 18 years…

A day after a federal jury found that District of Columbia police officers had fabricated evidence and hid exculpatory evidence during Donald Gates’s trial for a 1981 rape and murder, the government settled Mr. Gates’s claims for $16.65 million. Neufeld Scheck & Brustin will formally request an audit of old homicide cases investigated by the…

In September 2015 NSB client Sedrick Courtney won an $8 million settlement from the City of Tulsa. Mr. Courtney spent over 15 years in prison after a forensic hair analyst falsely claimed a hair from Mr. Courtney bore unusual similarities to a hair from the crime scene. Mr. Courtney proved his innocence and was exonerated…

NSB Partner Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann and Associate Alexandra Lampert co-authored Chapter Two, “Procedural Guide to Section 1983 Litigation in Federal Court,” drawing on the firm’s experience litigating civil rights cases to provide guidance to other litigators on all procedural topics involved in federal court litigation, from filing a complaint to litigating motions and appeals. ABA…