Court Approves Historic Class Action Protest Settlement

On October 25, 2023, Judge Colleen McMahon of the Southern District of New York approved the historic class action settlement KLLF and co-counsel secured for more than 200 protestors who were unlawfully detained or subjected to police force at the Mott Haven protest in June 2020. The Court praised the “extraordinary” response from the class to the settlement: 223 out of 257 eligible class members signed up to participate in the settlement, which provides $21,500 to each class member, and an additional $2,500 to protestors who were given Desk Appearance Tickets.

The final decision also approves an extra $21,500 in service awards for each of the five class representatives, who helped shepherd this case from initiation through discovery and ultimately to settlement, and $2,250,000 for attorneys’ fees incurred through the date of the court’s preliminary approval of the settlement. In all, the City of New York will pay more than $7.2 million to the class and class counsel.

KLLF partners Ali Frick and Doug Lieb were joined by co-counsel Hamilton Clarke, LLP, Rickner PLLC, and Michael Spiegel in serving as class counsel.