Maryland Jury Awards $5.6 Million for False Arrest and Detention

by Matt Clarke

On October 25, 2012, a Maryland jury awarded a man $5.6 million for damages incurred after he was arrested in Washington, D.C. on an invalid computer entry indicating an active bench warrant from Prince George's County.

Christopher Harper, 44, was working as a disc jockey and bank customer service representative when D.C. police pulled him over for a missing front license plate in January 2009. According to court records, he was in Washington to perform at ten engagements related to the inauguration of President Obama. Because of the computer entry indicating an active warrant, he was jailed.

The warrant had been issued by a Prince George's County court in March 2007 for Harper's allegedly failing to comply with a peace order. It was recalled five days after it was issued. The Price George's County Sheriff's Department (PGCSD) entered the warrant into the National Crime Information Computer, but failed to later enter the fact that it had been recalled.

Harper immediately protested to D.C. officials that the warrant had long ago been recalled. They sent a "hit request," a request for verification of the validity of the warrant, to the PGCSD, but the request went unanswered.

Harper was released after five days in custody when D.C. jail officials were finally able to confirm that the computer entry was invalid. As a result of his incarceration, he was unable to perform at the ten engagements in Washington and was fired from his job with Chevy Chase Bank.

"I lost everything," said Harper. "My DJ jobs got cancelled and I lost my job. The bank repossessed my car. My lights and electricity turned off. I am not a criminal, but my entire future and entire life got taken away from me because the Price George's Sheriff's Department did not do their job."

Assisted by Greenbelt, Maryland attorneys Timothy F. Maloney and Kara L. Fischer, Harper filed a lawsuit against the county and sheriff's department officials in state court alleging negligence and violations of Articles 24 (due process) and 26 (warrant requirement) of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. He also alleged that the sheriff's department had a pattern or practice of failures and oversights in the computer entry of warrants.

A jury found violations of Articles 24 and 26 and that there was a "custom or pattern or practice of violating the rights of individuals whose warrants were recalled or otherwise should have been removed" from the computer system. The jury awarded Harper $628,000 for economic damages and $5,000,000 for non-economic damages.

Assisting Harper's case was a 2009 audit of the sheriff's department which found a "lack of sufficient care" in maintaining the warrants file and caused "significant risks" that could "result in the arrest of an innocent citizen." The audit report was shown to the jury.

"The jury was impressed by how this one inaccurate warrant had turned Mr. Harper's life upside down," said Maloney who also explained that the usual tort damages limitation of $200,000 under the Local Government Tort Claims Act may not apply due to the finding of a pattern and practice of violations. See: Harper v. State of Maryland, Circuit Court of Price George's County, Civil No. CAL10-07875.

Additional source: http://lawyersusaonline.com

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