What happened to them
These are not our clients. They are people whose cases are public record: court files, settlements announced by a comptroller or a city council, news reports. We tell each one the way it happened, then explain the claim it became and what the government paid. Read them to recognize your own story, and to see what the law can and cannot do about it.
Every story on this page is a public record
The people, the facts, the amounts and the outcomes come from court records, government announcements and reporting, cited at the end of each story. None of them was represented by Usher Law Group. None of these outcomes is a promise about any other case. We publish no results of our own.
Eric Garner: a chokehold on Staten Island
A chokehold during a 2014 arrest, a $5.9 million pre-litigation settlement, and a felony statute that carries his name.
Sixteen cases: New York and Florida first, then Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Kalief Browder: three years at Rikers for a charge that was dropped
About three years in jail from age 16, about two in solitary, no conviction, and a $3.3 million settlement four years after his death.
Read →The Central Park Five: convicted in 1989, cleared in 2002, paid in 2014
Five convictions in a 1989 case, vacated in 2002, and a $41 million settlement from the City of New York in 2014.
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Layleen Polanco: unmonitored in a Rikers cell
Epilepsy, a restrictive housing cell, no one watching, and a $5.9 million settlement fourteen months later.
Read →Grottano v. City of New York: strip-searched for visiting a jail
Visitors to New York City jails, not inmates, were strip-searched from 2012 to 2019. A $12.5 million class settlement in 2019.
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Held past release for ICE: 674 people, one county jail, $112 million
A class of 674 people held in the Suffolk County jail after they should have been released, and a $112 million federal jury verdict in November 2025.
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The 2020 protests: $13.7 million, and rules the NYPD now has to follow
A $13.7 million class settlement for about 1,300 people, and a second settlement that banned kettling and rewrote the NYPD's protest rules.
Read →Robert DuBoise: thirty-seven years on a bite mark
Thirty-seven years in a Florida prison on bite-mark evidence, and a $14 million settlement from the City of Tampa in 2024.
Read →Corey Jones: stranded on the roadside, shot by a man in plain clothes
A breakdown on a Florida road, a plainclothes officer, a criminal conviction, and a $2 million settlement at the insurance limit.
Read →Dontrell Stephens: the verdict was $22.4 million. The check was $6 million.
Paralyzed in 2013, a $22.4 million jury verdict in 2016, and a $6 million claim bill in 2020: the clearest picture of the Florida cap.
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Darren Rainey: left in a scalding shower
A mentally ill prisoner, a scalding shower at a Florida state prison, and a $4.5 million settlement six years later.
Read →Seth Adams: unarmed, shot by a sergeant, a jury that could not agree
An unarmed man shot by a sheriff's sergeant in 2012, a deadlocked jury, and a $2.5 million settlement from the Palm Beach County Sheriff in 2017.
Read →Anthony Wright: twenty-five years for a confession he said was forced
Twenty-five years, a DNA exoneration, an alleged coerced confession, and $9.85 million from the City of Philadelphia.
Read →Walter Wallace Jr.: a crisis call that ended in a shooting
A mental health crisis, a police shooting, and a $2.5 million settlement from the City of Philadelphia a year later.
Read →Jim Rogers: Tasered again and again, dead the next day
Repeated Taser cycles in 2021, a death the next day, and an $8 million settlement from the City of Pittsburgh.
Read →Xavier Ingram: paralyzed in a Camden arrest
Quadriplegic after a 2014 arrest, a jury that could not agree, and a $10 million settlement from Camden County that admitted nothing.
Read →The same claims are open to you
Each story ends with the claim it became. The abuse gallery explains all forty, the recovery pages explain what can be recovered in each state, and the deadline tool counts your clock from your date.
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.