Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the most he expected the county to face as a judgment in the inmate death case of Richard A. Metcalf Jr. was $25 million.
Erie County could have settled a lawsuit over the death of inmate Richard A. Metcalf Jr. for $17 million, but instead took the case to a trial that ended with a jury's $95 million judgment against the county on Monday – the largest known civil verdict ever against the county.
So when the jury returned a compensatory damages verdict for $95 million on Monday, he was stunned. A lawyer by training, he said it’s clear that jurors were trying to punish the county for its role in Metcalf’s death, even though punitive damages are not being assessed by the jury until April 30.
“As an attorney, I was pretty shocked to see the award, knowing that there was no real basis in fact,” he told The Buffalo News on Thursday.
Metcalf died days after being restrained by deputies in the county Holding Center in November 2012. The jury found five current or former Erie County jail deputies responsible Monday for allowing Metcalf to suffocate while they restrained him and let him remain face down on a stretcher with a spit mask tied around his neck and a pillowcase over his head. Metcalf, 35, was taken to Erie County Medical Center and removed from life support after two days.
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“Mr. Metcalf should not have died in custody,” Poloncarz said. “No one should die in custody, and I feel bad for his family. I am very concerned about the award, which didn’t have any basis in fact, and that the rest of the people of Erie County would have to pay for. And the irony is the jurors, themselves, would have to pay for it in some manner in the future.”
The Brown Chiari lawyers representing Metcalf’s father said it was inappropriate for Poloncarz to offer his opinions on the matter while jurors are still seated in the case.
“The county executive wasn’t in the courtroom and didn’t see the evidence and hear the evidence the jury evaluated,” said lawyer Michael Scinta.
The county intends to appeal the verdict, with officials citing numerous trial errors that they expect to challenge. County Attorney Jeremy Toth also said that even though punitive damages have yet to be awarded by the jury, those damages would be borne by the individual county employees and would not be paid for by the county, a position that Brown Chiari lawyers dispute.
The civil trial over the death of Erie County Holding Center inmate Richard A. Metcalf Jr. in 2012 is expected to be the most expensive case the county has ever had to defend.
If a high, multimillion-dollar judgment is allowed to stand, the county may need to borrow money to cover the debt. The county is estimated to have spent about $2 million to date defending the county and the involved Sheriff’s Office deputies at the Holding Center.
The county could have settled the case for $17 million, county officials said. But they opted to let the matter go to trial, having no expectation that the compensatory damages award would be so huge.
“When you hear that the most we probably could ever be liable for is $25 (million), it’s kind of tough to settle at $17 (million),” Poloncarz said.
Poloncarz said the presiding judge in the case, Mark Grisanti, has the ability to decide, on his own, that the damages amount awarded by the jury was unjustifiable, and “arbitrary and capricious,” based on the information provided at trial.
Poloncarz said jurors were never instructed to consider the future earnings potential of Metcalf, had he lived, which often forms the basis of damages awards in lawsuits.
Don Chiari, of Brown Chiari, said no punitive damages have been awarded, and that Poloncarz is mistaken on the application of law in this case.
“I think he’s misinterpreting the law on constitutional damages,” Chiari said.