Lucas County to pay $1.28M in 2004 inmate death
The family of a Toledo man who died while in custody of the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office received some vindication, their attorney said Wednesday, with the settlement of a wrongful-death lawsuit they filed against the county in 2009.
“My clients lost a son, a father, a brother,” Cleveland attorney Joel Levin said. “I know that my client, Denise Coley Brown, during the criminal trial of the person who actually killed her son, went up to him and said, ‘I forgive you and God has forgiven you,’ and that was years ago.”
Under the terms of the agreement finalized before U.S. District Court Judge James Carr, the county’s insurance carrier is to pay the family of Carlton Benton $750,000 in compensatory damages and $530,000 for legal fees and expenses, said Dennis Lyle, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor.
Mr. Levin said the two sides were able to come together and work out what he deemed “a reasonable resolution.”
Read more: http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2017/02/23/County-to-pay-1-28M-in-2004-inmate-death.html