REFORMS
You want to win your case and create positive change for those in the same situation. We’ve shaped these reforms around the truth that justice is a system we build, not a one-time event.
We helped our two clients, the children of Humberto (“Beto”) Martinez, settle their claims for their father’s wrongful chokehold death for $7.3 million plus police reforms. This local case involved Pittsburg police officers’ use of a carotid hold and choke hold, and other highly injurious force, on video, while Beto…
Secured compensation for the son of an electrical lineman killed in a workplace accident, from settlement of a complex, multiple party, product liability case. The lineman was working in an aerial lift to upgrade a utility pol…
The parents and young son of 32-year-old Sean Arlt brought this case seeking justice and reforms from the Santa Cruz Police Department that mismanaged his psychotic episode, unnecessarily shooting and taking the life of this gentle and beloved man. …
As an integral part of the $5 million settlement from the tragic child abuse death of 3-year-old Kayleigh Slusher, the Napa Police Department has instituted major reforms. No longer will officers be allowed to ignore or fail to report suspected chil…
The City of Livermore agreed to pay $150,000 to a young man who was slammed into a light pole by Officer Michael Busevac in 2013. Witnesses testified that the large officer swung the young man like a rag doll, smashing his body into a metal pole. W…
After week one of a ten-week trial, Haddad & Sherwin achieved the largest wrongful death settlement in a civil rights case in California history – $8.3 million – plus statewide reforms to protect all inmates from illegal healthcare by Corizon Health,…
Police in the Bay Area have routinely pointed their guns at all occupants in a car for any “high risk” traffic stop where they have reason to believe the car may be stolen. But many times, the car is not stolen, or police rush to judgment to hold i…
Achieved a sweeping settlement protecting the free speech rights of public school teachers and requiring a local school district to provide comprehensive training to protect students and staff from discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, ge…
For more than a decade, the Oakland Police Department had a practice, and eventually a written policy, allowing officers to strip search people right on the street in broad daylight. Haddad & Sherwin teamed up with John Burris to represent dozens of…