Sued from the jail cell

[Gene83]

ST. PETERSBURG — One October day in 2007, a homeless man broke into a car and stole a bike.

He didn't get very far.

Within minutes, that man, Michael Dupree, was caught trying to sell the bike down the street. He was arrested and sent to jail. Now, he wants payback.

Dupree, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for burglary and cocaine possession, has filed a lawsuit against three men who helped police take him down.

Dupree says he's the victim of a rough citizens arrest, and was assaulted and battered by the men. He is seeking $500,000 and punitive damages.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/...arrest/1111990

[imashooter2]

You know your case is pretty weak when you can't find a contingency fee lawyer with low enough standards to represent you...

[Gene83]

Originally Posted by imashooter2

You know your case is pretty weak when you can't find a contingency fee lawyer with low enough standards to represent you...

For these guys, it's like playing the lottery. They don't have anything else to do with their time and every once in awhile, they get lucky.

[rjroberts]

They're looking at a very grey area: it's like Gene83 said above, they're playing the lottery. The case will rest on where in the chain that happened and how the people arrested the guy. Bottom line up front, I doubt there's a jury in FL that would convict on the evidence we see in the story.

In Florida, as part of the handgun carry laws, you may use force to stop a "forcible felony". Well, that part may have been over, which is the technicality I suspect the lawyer is playing. Under the specific circumstances of self-defense and the forcible-felony, one is immune from civil lawsuits provided the state's attorney finds it a good shoot (in the CCW context), or a judicial hearing or trial finds the same. However, once the crime is over, it can become assault the other way. But, again a jury is likely to have wanted to beat the guy themselves.

[REDFISH]

The problem is that the citizens will spend at lot of money defending themselfs with no recoarse on recovering their money spent on defense as the dirtbag has none.

[Gene83]

Originally Posted by REDFISH

The problem is that the citizens will spend at lot of money defending themselfs with no recoarse on recovering their money spent on defense as the dirtbag has none.

That's true. You spend your money mounting a defense because you actually have something to lose. The more you have to lose, the less likely you are to skimp on an attorney.

Since they have nothing to lose, it costs them nothing to represent themselves in a lawsuit and who knows, you might go for the cheapest attorney you can find, or try to represent yourself, and they'll get lucky.

[surrealone]

That's what umbrella policies are for. Cheap, effective, and some lawyer who works for an insurance company comes to defend you because s/he's defending the insurance company's money. And you know how insurance companies are, right? Imagine how their lawyers are!

Surrealone

[UniversalExports]

Oh, trust me, the guy's got something to lose. Filing this lawsuit shows he has no remorse and accepts no responsibility for the crime. And if I were on the receiving end of a harassment suit I'd be right there at his board hearing testifying to that fact every time he comes up for parole from now until doomsday.