GEORGE FLOYD'S WRONGFUL DEATH SETTLEMENT: WAS HE WORTH $27 MILLION?

ICHEOKU says what is a life really worth afterall, especially the life of a drug addict who was ordinarily nearing his death before finally dying in the hands of the police or rather under the knee of a police officer. But a political correctness City of Minneapolis, in furtherance of being Woke, decided to enrich his family to the tune of $27 million. The City  wanted to make his family whole because of the trauma they suffered from the manner of his death. They also wanted to appease Black Lives Matter and their ANTIFA collaborators in order to get into their good book, so they made it rain for George Floyd's family and it poured $27 million into their coffers.

In short, the City literary emptied it's treasury as Minneapolis is not all that a very big city and could not have such a deep pocket where the removal of a whopping $27 million will not be felt. Now you understand why so many American cities are perpetually broke and always hand in cap seeking funds from Washington DC; it is because they mismanage their resources. If the City of Minneapolis could dole out such a staggering amount of money to settle just one man's wrongful death, imagine how much they have doled out in the past, will dole out in one year and will dole out in many more years to come. A wrongful death lawsuit was threatened by George Floyd's family and it was immediately settled and for such a very huge amount of money, begging the question, what is the legal department and City attorney of Minneapolis doing; or is it to just collect salary and allowances and speedily settle cases. 

ICHEOKU says if a case merits to be settled instead of being litigated, are there no longer acceptable capped ceilings for what a reasonable amount of compensation should be? Was it the manner of his death that was settled or his actual death that commanded such a huge amount of money? What indices were used to calculate his life's worth? Was it his net worth or life expectancy? How much was his last IRS filed tax, if indeed he even filed one? Was there any financial statement on record attesting to his worth that made the $27 million payment appropriate? How much support did he provide to his children and baby mama; or was he a debit dad? What type of luxurious life were his family used to as a result of what he provided for hem which they will miss and be deprived of by reason of his death and for continuity necessitated the huge amount paid? 

He was a drug addict and from the autopsy report was literary a dead man walking until the intervention of now convicted murderer Derek Chauvin promptly ended it for him. Like a catalyst, the former police officer merely quickened George Floyd's death as he would have died ordinarily within a short future time due to his complicated health condition exacerbated by his excessive drug use. Even in the video of him which the world saw preceding his death, he was not looking too good health-wise and he did not look like a financially stable person, talkless of being a rich or wealthy individual. So, on what basis was his life determined to be worth so much that $27 million was assessed as its fair value, admitted some punitive damages may have come in addition. What was his ability and capacity, which wrongful death cut short, that weighed so much in reaching the amount handed to his family. 

But the City of Minneapolis is not telling us; rather they told the world that they have settled the wrongful lawsuit with George Floyd's family in the amount of $27 million dollars. ICHEOKU says really? If George Floyd could fetch $27 million for his family, what then will the family of Duante Wright ask for, $54 million? Afterall he is much younger, much healthier and had much more potential for future earning capacity than George Floyd, who had nearly spent all his credit on earth and was already on his way out when Derek Chauvin fast forwarded it and brought his life  to immediate end. According to his necropsy, his heart was bloated, he was hypertensive, his kidney had problems and his lungs too, all in part due to his excessive drug use which had damaged them. Yet his life was determined to be worth $27 million?

All it will do going forward is to put an idea into some knuckleheads and encourage them to get creative and invest for their families through police confrontation. People who typically have nothing to provide their family and loved ones while they are alive or things to bequeath them upon death, might decide to take a shortcut at making the impossible, possible; by providing for them bountifully, posthumously. What stops a crackhead with nothing to lose deciding to intentionally confront the police, forcing them to shoot, aware that some lawyers will hustle some large amounts of money for their families through a threat of a wrongful death lawsuit. If George Floyd could fetch such an amount of money in his state of affairs at the time he died, it will automatically open a whole lot of possibilities for others out there to try and cash in.

ICHEOKU is not saying that when a person is wrongfully killed by the police officers of a City that the City should not pony up. No, only that they should seriously determine what a fair amount of compensation is or the reasonable value of the life taken before cutting that check. But they are often too quick to reach a settlement because it is the public's money and Uncle Sam is always there in Washington DC to bail them out if need be. Some might argue that a jury can never be predicted and that they might decide to empty a City's coffers through a giant pay day award if the matter goes to trial. But this is exactly the reason that should force Cities to always take such cases to trial, especially when the family is being too unreasonable with their demand amount since the jury is unpredictable. They could go either way, too.

Most times wrongful death lawsuit lawyers bluff with their threat to sue, aware that Cities frequently settles such cases rather than going to trial. These lawyers are not usually ready or prepared to invest the amount of time and resources which such trial normally demands. They only want to hustle out as many settlements as possible to keep their practices going and will rather not be bogged down in a lengthy expensive trial. So, it is in their interest to settle as many such lawsuits as they could possible gather, instead of being mired down with trying them in the court at cost, both financially and time; since most family retain them on a percentage, recover and get paid, basis. So, yes, even where an unreasonable jury awards an excessive damages, such decision could still be appealed right up to the Supreme Court if need be, for a reduced judgment amount. 

If the City of Minneapolis had called the bluff of George Floyd's family and at best offered them plus minus $5  million, they would have accepted it; and if otherwise, the City could have spent $2 million with a defense lawyer and defended the lawsuit. At most, the jury could have awarded the family about $11 million and thus saved the City about $16 million; and in any other event, the City could have spent additional $3 million in appealing the jury's award. So, no matter how it was diced, including the matter reaching the Supreme Court, a lesser amount than the $27 million would have in the end been paid to George Floyd's family. But they choked in cowardice and handed $27 million public money to the family and have now opened the door for more lawyers to begin to set a new benchmark of what their clients will settle for in any future wrongful death lawsuit. It may also lead to more crackheads playing chicken with the police in the hope that their family and loved ones may become rich following their death at the hands of the police. 

And yes, what Derek Chauvin did was horrible but it was not the entire City of Minneapolis that did it, admitted he was their agent. The people of Minneapolis collectively own the money which was doled out to George Floyd's family and they are the ones who would have sat in the jury, had the wrongful death lawsuit proceeded to trial. They would have been more frugal in disbursing their commonwealth than what the managers did. Even the fact that the City did not wait to first see how the criminal prosecution went before settling the lawsuit is by itself very perplexing. If this pattern of rushed settlement of wrongful death lawsuits continues and Cities continues to recklessly dole out their funds in this manner, they will eventually all go bankrupt as Uncle Sam cannot continuously be expected to come to the rescue each time they recklessly spend themselves into pennilessness. There will be more lawyers threatening such lawsuits and there will be more people dying in the hands of the police and their families, as clients.

Such a huge settlement amount is capable of influencing behavior, especially with people who have nothing more to look forward to and have somewhat become suicidal and have chosen the police as their executioner. Cities should start defending all these cases and where they must  settle, start their offer from the lowest figure possible. If the City's insurance forces their hands to quickly settle only to later turn around and increase their premiums, they should threaten a change of insurance company and see what happens. There should be a value attached to every life, but a drug addict and a medical doctor or a Rocket scientist's life should not command the same settlement amount. 

ICHEOKU therefore is emphatic that George Floyd's life is not worth $27 million, admitted that the agony which he was put through before he died could have weighed towards a high settlement amount, but it should never have been this high, regardless. Anyway, his death has brought his family a fortune, a financial windfall sort of and for it, there was something somewhat positive that came from his death. It is also worth noting that all those his family members who suddenly showed up following his death, apparently were not very much in his life while he lived. Judging his haggardly appearance and the fact that his drug addiction reached such a life threatening peak, a crisis level, it is rather surprised that he had that many well to do looking family members. 

ICHEOKU wonders the type of relationship which they had with him before his death. If he was down on his luck like many people often times are, how much help did he get from them. Did they assist him before and eventually gave up because he was not forthcoming? Was it that he was an adult and should take care of himself, when they were aware that drug addiction is a disease and that a sick person is not left on their own to take care of themselves because they can't. Why did they not pull together to help set him free of his drugs demons through treatments and rehabilitations; and finding him a real job with which to support himself and family. But immediately he was killed and sensing a moment in the sun, everyone of them crawled out from whatever burrow they were inside to declare me too, I am a member of his family member. Although they did good by fighting for their brother, but it should have been before the fact and not after the fact. Life is cruel. May George Floyd's soul continue to rest.