Civil Rights/Police Brutality Cases Attorney in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Remedies for Victims of Civil Rights Violations

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Civil rights violations, what they call a Section 1983, which is the United States code section reference to it, has available in the section itself and in the case law surrounding it, compensatory damages. That is the damages to right the wrong. Plus – I’ll start over. The types of remedies available in a civil rights violation include compensatory damages, which are damages to make the person whole. They also include a common law right to punitive damages under federal common law. In addition, the part of Section 1983, it’s called Section 1988, allows for the award of attorney’s fees to civil rights plaintiffs who prevail, so they can get their fees and costs back. So you have those three things. Plus there’s injunctive relief that you can ask to have the practice stopped. That works if there’s a system problem, it doesn’t work so well in individual cases for example of excessive force.

Minneapolis attorney Robert Bennett talks about different remedies available to victims of civil rights violations.

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