4 ms·

Why don't wrongfully convicted people Sue for damages and use the lawsuit to get there records purged? I sure there is a reason why people don't in general I'm

Why don't wrongfully convicted people Sue for damages and use the lawsuit to get there records purged? I sure there is a reason why people don't in general I'm just not clear what exactly this reason is. Anyone in the know care to elucidate me?

jrockway 11y ago
Suing the government is not all that easy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_Unit...
- johncolanduoni 11y ago
  It really isn't. A close associate of mine had a government official back out of a contract he signed (in the government's name) in a way that was so legally clear that it would have resulted in a summary judgement had it been anyone else. His lawyer advised him not to bother unless he could afford to pay the legal fees for a decade long court battle.
brudgers 11y ago
Poor people have trouble paying lawyers. Involuntarily homeless people tend to have more pressing issues than starting an extended legal action. Suing the state over a matter of principal is de facto if not de jure often amounts to little more than a luxury.
analyst74 11y ago
According to one of his comments, all the lawyers wanted upfront money to sue the city.
kriro 11y ago
He probably got an offer along the lines of "your record is cleared if you waive all rights to sue us over this".
asift 11y ago
Depending on where you live, it might be that certain court/legal records can never be expunged. I know a guy who was sober (determined by multiple breathalyzer tests), but arrested for public intoxication. The case was immediately thrown out and the charges dropped, but he lives in a state where arrest records cannot be expunged. It's the only thing that shows up on his criminal record, but he's had job offers fall apart because employers assume he was actually guilty of public intoxication (a charge that usually only comes against people acting belligerent, violent, so drunk they can't walk, etc.) and just lawyered his way out of it. He thought about suing for wrongful arrest, simply to try and bolster his case in employment situations, but his attorney told him that it's nearly impossible to win a wrongful arrest suit and it would cost him 10's of thousands of dollars to even try.

jrockway 11y ago

Suing the government is not all that easy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_Unit...

johncolanduoni 11y ago
It really isn't. A close associate of mine had a government official back out of a contract he signed (in the government's name) in a way that was so legally clear that it would have resulted in a summary judgement had it been anyone else. His lawyer advised him not to bother unless he could afford to pay the legal fees for a decade long court battle.

brudgers 11y ago

Poor people have trouble paying lawyers. Involuntarily homeless people tend to have more pressing issues than starting an extended legal action. Suing the state over a matter of principal is de facto if not de jure often amounts to little more than a luxury.

analyst74 11y ago

According to one of his comments, all the lawyers wanted upfront money to sue the city.

kriro 11y ago

He probably got an offer along the lines of "your record is cleared if you waive all rights to sue us over this".

asift 11y ago

Depending on where you live, it might be that certain court/legal records can never be expunged. I know a guy who was sober (determined by multiple breathalyzer tests), but arrested for public intoxication. The case was immediately thrown out and the charges dropped, but he lives in a state where arrest records cannot be expunged. It's the only thing that shows up on his criminal record, but he's had job offers fall apart because employers assume he was actually guilty of public intoxication (a charge that usually only comes against people acting belligerent, violent, so drunk they can't walk, etc.) and just lawyered his way out of it. He thought about suing for wrongful arrest, simply to try and bolster his case in employment situations, but his attorney told him that it's nearly impossible to win a wrongful arrest suit and it would cost him 10's of thousands of dollars to even try.