From [HERE] The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the city of East Cleveland to pay upwards of $30 million to satisfy a judgment in favor of a Black man who won a jury verdict finding that police officers wrongfully detained him and caused serious injuries in the process.

In the opinion, the justices granted a writ of mandamus to Arnold Black, saying East Cleveland has a clear legal duty to pay out the judgment, and Black had no other legal recourse to enforce that judgment as he cannot commence a regular enforcement action against the city under state law.

According to the opinion, Black was arrested in April 2012 during a traffic stop by East Cleveland police officers, who beat and arrested him after Black told them that he did not know who sold drugs in the city. The court made a factual finding that Black was left in a storage room for four days, with no bed or toilet, and his former fiancée testified that his head was “swollen like a helmet” when he was released.

Black sued Police Chief Ralph Scotts, Detective Randy Hicks and the city, and in August 2019 a jury returned a verdict in his favor, awarding $20 million in compensatory damages, plus $5 million in prejudgment interest, plus $15 million in punitive damages from Scotts and Hicks. The following year, an appeals court affirmed the judgment, and both the state and U.S. Supreme Courts denied review of the verdict.

Black's attorney contacted the city in October 2021 seeking to satisfy the judgment, but the city did not acknowledge or respond to the letter, and Black commenced the action seeking the writ in February 2023 and asked for the $20 million judgment, plus nearly $10.5 million in interest.

According to Wednesday's opinion, Black's evidence clearly and convincingly established that he's entitled to the relief because as he prevailed at a jury trial, which gives him a clear legal right to the judgment, while the city has a clear legal duty to satisfy the amounts.

While the city argued that a motion it made at trial to enforce a damages cap meant there was a dispute about how much money it owed Black and that therefore he hasn't established a clear legal right, the justices disagreed.

According to the opinion, Black has submitted sufficient evidence to establish exactly how much the city owes him, including the jury's interrogatories and verdict, including the amount of compensatory damages, the trial court's judgment ordering the city to pay and an appeals court's judgment affirming the verdict and monetary awards.

As such, the justices ordered the city to satisfy the judgment, including prejudgment interest and postjudgment interest from the verdict to the date it is paid, and if the city does not have the funds, it is to appropriate funds to satisfy the judgment and interest.

According to the court:

On April 28, 2012, at approximately 10:00 p.m., Black was driving home from his mother’s house when he was pulled over by East Cleveland Patrolman Jonathan O’Leary. (Trial tr. 166-167; 218; 227.) Sergeant Randy Hicks had ordered O’Leary to stop Black’s green truck because it resembled a green truck belonging to a suspected drug dealer. Hicks was a narcotics detective in East Cleveland and was also a member of a joint narcotics task force with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department. (O’Leary trial depo. tr. 54.)

O’Leary told Black to get out of his vehicle, handcuffed him, and escorted him to the back of his truck. (O’Leary trial depo. tr. 8.)

O’Leary’s patrol car was parked behind Black’s vehicle with the lights activated. Black was sitting on his back bumper in front of O’Leary’s patrol car when Hicks arrived on the scene.

Black testified that Hicks immediately began searching his car and removed the side panels from his truck. Hicks did not find any narcotics in the truck and, after brandishing his badge, began questioning Black about who sells drugs in East Cleveland. (Trial tr. 86.)

Black replied that he did not know who sold drugs in the city. Thereafter, Hicks became violent and repeatedly struck Black’s face and head without provocation or justification. (Trial tr. 93.) Hicks admitted at trial that he struck Black several times until O’Leary came between them and stopped him. (Trial tr. 93-94.) Hicks described Black as appearing “dazed” after the beating. (Trial tr. 94; 232-234.)

O’Leary testified that he believed his dash camera was operating throughout the duration of the incident and captured the incident on film. (O’Leary trial depo. 18.) Black and O’Leary both testified that Hicks may have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident because he smelled of alcohol. (Trial tr. 291-292; O’Leary trial depo. 73-74.)

Hicks admitted that he called another officer to transport Black to the East Cleveland jail even though he did not have probable cause to arrest him. (Trial tr. 98.)

Upon arriving at the jail, Black was placed in a storage room that the police officers referred to as a “holding cell,” even though there was no bed and no toilet in the room. (Trial tr. 238-239.) The room contained a wooden bench, some storage lockers, and cleaning supplies and was infested with cock roaches. (Trial tr. 240- 241.)

Black remained in the storage room for four days. At some point, an unknown officer entered the room, gave Black a carton of milk, and allowed him to use his cell phone to make a call. (Trial tr. 244-245.) Black called his former fiancée, Eryka Bey and told her, in a whisper, that he had been arrested and beaten and was being held in the East Cleveland jail. (Trial tr. 190.)

Bey went immediately to the jail and asked to see Black. An officer told her she could not see him because he was “under investigation.” Black testified that on the fourth day following his arrest, a councilwoman came to the jail to inquire about him because she had heard he had been beaten while he was handcuffed and was being detained without probable cause in the city jail.

Chief Spotts accompanied the councilwoman during her visit with Black in the storage room. (Trial tr. 272.) In Black’s presence, the councilwoman told the chief that she wanted to know what happened to Black and how “at this time and age * * * he got beat up and put in a closet.” (Trial tr. 274.) Thereafter, Black was placed in a line of inmates, who were awaiting transport to the county jail. (Trial tr. 271-274.) Later that day, Bey picked Black up at the county jail and drove him home. (Trial tr. 196-197.)

According to Bey, Black’s head was swollen like a “helmet” and he was acting fearful. (Trial tr. 196-197.) In the weeks following the incident, Black complained of headaches and developed vision problems. His mother and Bey also observed changes in his personality. They described him as withdrawn and unwilling to leave the house due to fear of the police. (Trial tr. 199-200, 201, 209, 253-254.) [MORE]