MIAMI - The attorney for a Doral man who alleged cops there took him for a "rough ride" after arresting him without cause will get close to $100,000 from them.
Miami federal judge K. Michael Moore on Aug. 21 ordered $91,627.50 in fees and $5,779.83 in costs to Daniel Courtney, adopting a magistrate judge's recommendation. The ruling follows a $600,000 jury verdict in favor of Courtney's client, Victor Sepulveda.
Officers Alberto Tellez, Michael Acosta and Javier Diaz in 2022 were found to have committed excessive force and battery in September 2017. The jury awarded $525,000 in damages for pain and suffering, injuries, mental anguish and loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life. Another $75,000 went to past and future medical damages.
Courtney twice moved for attorneys fees (forgetting to provide invoices in his first motion), with Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis granting them on July 23. His second motion sought compensation for 193 hours of work.
The defendants claimed his time entries weren't specific enough, but Louis said the work on each was "intertwined."
"Next, Defendants object to virtually every time entry on the basis that it is 'vague and ambiguous' and lacks sufficient detail to determine the relevance of the work performed," Louis wrote.
"Defendants' vast overuse of this objection renders it meaningless. For example, Defendants object to Plaintiff's counsel's time incurred (less than an hour) in researching excessive force claims, a patently relevant endeavor to the prosecution of his successful excessive force claims."
The 2021 complaint said Sepulveda was sitting in his car on public property when officer Omar Felipe ordered him out of the vehicle. Sepulveda offered his license and registration.
Sepulveda also alerted cops to a lawfully concealed firearm was on his body, the suit says, but Tellez pinned him against the car and drove him to the police station. There, Sepulveda says, he was asked to undergo DUI testing including a breathalyzer, which he refused.
He was then ordered to jail. Before ever making it to the transport police car, Sepulveda says he was handcuffed while officers took turns beating him. They then placed him in the back of Diaz's car and left for about an hour without air conditioning, it is alleged.
"Then, Diaz took water from Diaz's vehicle and poured it all over the back seat of Diaz's vehicle," the lawsuit says. "Diaz and Acosta then drove in a reckless manner along different roads in Miami-Dade County while Sepulveda slid around in the back seat."
The car flew over train tracks at 100 miles per hour, the suit says. Sepulveda claims he hit his head on the backseat divider repeatedly, causing numerous hematomas and scars.
Medical staff at TGK Correctional Center took him to a hospital instead of jail because of his injuries. Sepulveda was charged with DUI and resisting arrest, claims which were dropped by prosecutors because none of the officers were willing to testify, the suit says.
Defendants in Sepulveda's lawsuit sought to keep the jury from seeing a video of Acosta punching a suspect in custody or hear about his suspension of duty after shooting a robbery suspect in the neck.
The shooting was deemed justified.