They broke the law. Make them pay.
A false arrest. A beating. A raid on the wrong house. A son who died in a cell. Federal law lets you sue the officer. State law usually lets you sue the city. Both have deadlines, and in New York the first one runs out in 90 days.
Or call (718) 484-7510. Someone answers, in English, Russian or Spanish.
- Civil and criminal, one firmSo a plea never quietly closes your claim.
- NY, NJ, FL and PAState and federal court, with the rules for each.
- Every rule citedStatute, Supreme Court, circuit, on every page.
- Any languageEnglish, Russian, Spanish in-house. Interpreters for the rest.
Every way police and government violate your rights
Forty kinds of abuse, each with its own page: what it looks like, the claim behind it, the defenses, the deadline, and what people have recovered.
ForceExcessive force
More force than the moment called for, judged on the whole encounter, not the last second.
Read →
ArrestFalse arrest
Handcuffed with no probable cause. The most common claim, and the one most often lost to a missed deadline.
Read →
SearchHome raids and wrong-house entries
The wrong door, no warrant, or no knock. When a home entry becomes a Fourth Amendment claim.
Read →
ForcePolice shootings
When deadly force is unreasonable, who brings the claim after a death, and how long the family has.
Read →
CustodyDeath in custody
When a person dies during an arrest or in a cell: who can sue, and by when.
Read →
SpeechProtest policing
Kettled, zip-tied, pepper-sprayed or arrested for filming. Three claims, and what cities have paid.
Read →
ProsecutionWrongful conviction
After the conviction falls: the claims that open and the clock that starts.
Read →
FederalImmigration detainers in local jails
Bail posted, case over, and the jail kept you for ICE anyway. That extra time can be a claim.
Read →It happened to them
Sixteen cases from court records and government announcements, seven of them in New York and five in Florida. Real people, real events, real outcomes. None of them was our client. Each card opens what happened, the claim it became, and what the government paid.
NY201501Eric GarnerChokehold, Staten IslandRead the story →
NY201902Kalief BrowderThree years at Rikers, no trialRead the story →NY201403The Central Park FiveFive wrongful convictionsRead the story →
NY202004Layleen PolancoDied unmonitored at RikersRead the story →NY201905The jail visitorsJail visitors strip-searchedRead the story →
NY202506Suffolk County detainers674 people held for ICERead the story →
NY202307The 2020 protests1,300 protesters, one settlementRead the story →FL202408Robert DuBoise37 years on a bite markRead the story →FL202309Corey JonesStranded motorist, shotRead the story →FL202010Dontrell StephensA verdict cut down by the capRead the story →
FL201811Darren RaineyScalding shower, a state prisonRead the story →FL201712Seth AdamsUnarmed, shot by a sergeantRead the story →PA201813Anthony Wright25 years, then DNARead the story →PA202114Walter Wallace Jr.Shot during a crisis callRead the story →PA202315Jim RogersTasered repeatedlyRead the story →NJ202216Xavier IngramParalyzed in an arrestRead the story →NY201501Eric GarnerChokehold, Staten IslandRead the story →NY201902Kalief BrowderThree years at Rikers, no trialRead the story →NY201403The Central Park FiveFive wrongful convictionsRead the story →NY202004Layleen PolancoDied unmonitored at RikersRead the story →NY201905The jail visitorsJail visitors strip-searchedRead the story →NY202506Suffolk County detainers674 people held for ICERead the story →NY202307The 2020 protests1,300 protesters, one settlementRead the story →FL202408Robert DuBoise37 years on a bite markRead the story →FL202309Corey JonesStranded motorist, shotRead the story →FL202010Dontrell StephensA verdict cut down by the capRead the story →FL201811Darren RaineyScalding shower, a state prisonRead the story →FL201712Seth AdamsUnarmed, shot by a sergeantRead the story →PA201813Anthony Wright25 years, then DNARead the story →PA202114Walter Wallace Jr.Shot during a crisis callRead the story →PA202315Jim RogersTasered repeatedlyRead the story →NJ202216Xavier IngramParalyzed in an arrestRead the story →Public settlements and verdicts, on the record
Every figure is a public settlement or verdict paid by a government in someone else's case, with its source. None is a result of this firm, and none predicts yours.
A class of 674 people held in jail past their release dates on immigration detainers. Post-trial motions not confirmed.
Source: Prison Legal News. Someone else’s case, not ours.$41 millionSettlement · City of New York · 2014Five teenagers wrongly convicted in a 1989 case, cleared in 2002.
Source: Innocence Project. Someone else’s case, not ours.$14 millionSettlement · City of Tampa · 2024A man imprisoned 37 years on bite-mark evidence.
Source: WUSF. Someone else’s case, not ours.$13.7 millionClass settlement · City of New York · 2023People arrested and hit at the 2020 racial justice protests.
Source: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Someone else’s case, not ours.$10 millionSettlement · Camden County, NJ · 2022A man left quadriplegic after an arrest. The county denied wrongdoing.
Source: CBS News. Someone else’s case, not ours.$9.25 millionSettlement · City of Philadelphia · 2023About 350 people tear-gassed on I-676 and in West Philadelphia in 2020.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer. Someone else’s case, not ours.$8 millionSettlement · City of Pittsburgh · 2023A man repeatedly Tasered who died the next day.
Source: WESA. Someone else’s case, not ours.$5.9 millionSettlement · City of New York · 2015A chokehold death during an arrest on Staten Island.
Source: NYC Comptroller. Someone else’s case, not ours.$4.5 millionSettlement · State of Florida · 2018A mentally ill man left in a scalding prison shower.
Source: WLRN. Someone else’s case, not ours.$2 millionSettlement · Palm Beach Gardens, FL · 2023A stranded motorist shot by a plainclothes officer.
Source: CBS News. Someone else’s case, not ours.Four states, four sets of rules, one federal claim
The federal claim under Section 1983 has no cap anywhere. The state-law claims do, in some states, and every state has its own notice rule. Pick yours.
New York
- Notice of claim 90 days
- Federal claim 3 years
- Cap on damages None
New Jersey
- Tort claims notice 90 days
- Federal claim 2 years
- Civil Rights Act Fees shifted
Florida
- Pre-suit notice 3 years
- Federal claim 4 years
- State-law cap $200,000
Pennsylvania
- Written notice 6 months
- Federal claim 2 years
- Local-agency cap $500,000
Dollar figures are statutory caps on state-law damages against a government, not settlements or results. The federal claim against the officers is not capped. How recovery works →
Every clock, from your date.
Pick who the officers worked for, enter the date, and the tool shows every deadline that applies with the rule behind it: the 90-day notice of claim, the late-notice cutoff, the state-law suit, the federal claim, the City's 2021 law, the CCRB. New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania and federal agencies have their own tables. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
What New York City pays, and how often
Public figures, from the Legal Aid Society's analysis of the City's own data, released March 2, 2026. They describe other people's cases and predict nothing about yours; we publish no results of our own.
The full table, 2019 to 2025, and the CCRB's 2025 figures → · Public settlements and verdicts in four states →
A litigation firm with a criminal defense practice in the same office
The civil claim and the criminal charge come out of the same arrest. A firm that handles only one side handles it worse: the plea that ends the criminal case can end the civil one, and the notice of claim runs out while the charge is still open. Mikhail Usher, Alexander Susi and Mitchell Bromberg handle both, in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania.
- We protect the shortest deadline first, then investigate, then decide.
- We get the footage, the records and the officers' histories before they disappear.
- We work on a contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.
For the moment you are in
A stop last night. Charges dismissed this morning. A family member at Rikers.
Stopped by the NYPD: what to do, what to say, and what to write down
The stop is not the place to argue your case. It is the place to stay calm, say a few short things, and remember everything.
Read →
What is a false arrest case worth? The honest answer
Everyone asks. Nobody who answers on the first call is telling you the truth. Here are the seven things that actually move the number.
Read →Zorn v. Linton, explained: what "beyond debate" means for your case
The Supreme Court did not say the wristlock was lawful. It said no earlier case put the question beyond debate. That difference is the whole doctrine.
Read →What changed this year
Florida's cap increase vetoed
HB 145 would have raised the sovereign immunity caps to $350,000 per person and $500,000 per incident for claims accruing after October 1, 2026. The Governor vetoed it. The statutory caps stay at $200,000 and $300,000.
Qualified immunity for a wristlock on a seated protester
Zorn v. Linton: the Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit and held that no precedent put beyond debate whether a rear wristlock on a passively resisting sit-in protester, after warnings, was excessive.
A conviction does not bar a suit for prospective relief
Olivier v. City of Brandon: Heck v. Humphrey does not block a Section 1983 suit that seeks only to stop future enforcement, even by a person convicted under the same ordinance.
Common questions
Can I sue the police?
If an officer arrested you without probable cause, used force the situation did not call for, searched you or your home unlawfully, or a jail ignored a serious injury or medical need, federal law gives you a claim under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against the officer, and state law usually gives you a parallel claim against the officer's employer. Whether the claim is worth bringing depends on the evidence, the defenses, and what the criminal court did with any charge. The claims page sorts it by what happened.
How long do I have?
It depends on who the officers worked for. In New York, a claim against the City under state law needs a notice of claim within 90 days of the incident, and the federal claim has three years. New Jersey has a 90-day Tort Claims Act notice and a two-year limit. Florida has a three-year pre-suit notice and a four-year federal limit. Against a federal agency such as ICE the administrative claim is due in two years. The deadline tool counts each clock from your date.
The charges are still pending. Should I wait?
Talk to your criminal defense lawyer first, and do not describe the arrest in writing to anyone. But do not wait on the notice of claim: in New York it is due 90 days after the arrest, usually long before the criminal case ends, and it can be served without adding anything to the criminal file. We coordinate with defense counsel on every case where a charge is open.
What does it cost?
The case review is free. If we take the matter, we work on a contingency fee: our legal fee is a percentage of what is recovered, confirmed in a written retainer before we begin, and if nothing is recovered there is no legal fee. Court filing fees and case expenses are separate and are explained in the retainer.
Do you publish your results?
No. The figures on this site about what New York City has paid in police misconduct cases are public statistics about other people's cases, from the Legal Aid Society and the Comptroller, and they predict nothing about yours. We do not advertise our own settlements and we will not estimate what your case is worth on a website.
I am not a citizen. Can I still sue?
Yes. Section 1983 protects any person within the jurisdiction of the United States, whatever their immigration status. An arrest can affect an immigration case, and we handle the two together with the firm's immigration practice. The immigration status page explains how.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.