Illinois Partners Obtain Defense Jury Verdict in Legal Malpractice Involving Police Department

Chicago Partners Paul A. Ruscheinski and Thomas M. Crawford obtained defense jury verdict in legal malpractice involving a city Police Department shooting of an unarmed male in the south side of the city.

Plaintiff alleged that the police used excessive force in shooting him twice while he was unarmed, tasing him multiple times, and kicking and beating him after he had been shot. Tom and Paul tried two cases in one: (1) whether the defendant failed to file a civil suit against the  Police Department officers; and, (2) whether the police officers used excessive force.

The trial lasted seven days and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on both the professional negligence and excessive force.

Tom is a litigator and a trial attorney and regularly handles multi-million exposures in all types of commercial and civil litigation across the country. He has represented individuals and companies in a broad range of matters including business litigation, construction, insurance coverage, products liability and professional liability.

Paul focuses his practice on matters of executive liability, medical professional liability and toxic tort defense. Before entering private practice, Paul served as an assistant state’s attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Prosecutions and the Traffic Enforcement bureaus.