Council to vote on K-Mart settlement payments

And we're one step closer to officially putting all the lawsuits that stemmed from the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup into the books for good.

[Houston City Council] on Wednesday will consider whether to settle one lawsuit brought by 59 people who were arrested that night. The full settlement amount is $474,117. According to the settlement, each plaintiff will get $4,000, except for one who will get $5,000. Their four lawyers will split $237,117.

The other lawsuit had 43 plaintiffs. The proposed settlement is for $257,500. Each plaintiff will get $2,500 or $3,500. Their attorney, Paul Rosen, will get $125,000.

Eight other lawsuits stemming from the Kmart raid already have been settled. Four others were dismissed. The total cost to the city for all the settlements is $840,117. Senior Assistant City Attorney Robert Cambrice estimated that an additional $60,000 was spent on outside lawyers who helped defend HPD and worked to expunge the arrest records of those caught up in the sweep.

"We came in at less than $1 million," Cambrice said. "Some people said how many tens of millions this would cost the city. I would say justice was served, and the public purse was appropriately protected."

Randall Kallinen was one of the attorneys in the suit that may be settled for $474,117.

"The Kmart raid represented one of the most egregious mass civil rights violations in Houston history," Kallinen said Monday. "I believe it is a reasonable settlement under the circumstances, and all the clients will get some payment for the suffering they went through."

Well, it is less money than the Ibarra lawsuit, I'll say that much for it. The original agreement was reached in April, and if this subsequent story is still accurate, then there's still some action pending for Judge Nancy Atlas, which should be completed in another month. And then, that's all she wrote. Miya has more.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on June 17, 2008 to K-Mart Kiddie Roundup