MikeMpls

Goggle searches for Robert F Dilley are now zeroing in on this thread. This is hit #5 today:

Keep mentioning full names & use "officer" occasionally.

Very interesting that there were 7 lawsuits against Officer Robert F Dilley. That's an incredibly high number. At that rate a 100-officer department would be fielding ~25 lawsuits a year & nobody would insure them.

pmocek

Until Ari cites his source, that's hearsay.

RichardKenner

Yeah, but Dilley (we don't know if it's the same one) was the plaintiff in that case!

Ari

Fair enough. All the lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for New Mexico; the case numbers and case titles are below-- Dilley is a named defendant in each case:

93-CV-01195 Blackhurst v. Albuquerque, City of, et al
94-CV-01016 Cadena v. Albuquerque, City of, et al
94-CV-01279 Taylor, et al v. Vincent, et al
95-CV-00297 Clark v. Montano, et al
95-CV-00984 Padilla, et al v. Dilley, et al
01-CV-00651 Mondragon, et al v. New Mexico, State of, et al

I can't find the 7th case for some reason . . .

essxjay

How bout some charitable reciprocity here? Federal court documents don't quite rise (lower?) to the level of hearsay. A simple PACER or Lex-Nex search should clear up any doubt. (If you don't have a PACER account that's simple enough to fix; if no, Lex-Nex access at work then perhaps you can get remote access via your former university or municipal library.)

I'll bet it is: LINK.

For those unable/unwilling to open an unknown doc file, here are the relevant bits:

pmocek

Web forum text doesn't clearly convey the lack of emotion in my comment. I meant no offense, and made no claim about Ari's credibility. On the contrary, in recent meatspace conversation, I mentioned unsubstantiated rumors that "came from a source who is, in my limited experience with him, seemingly credible."

Thanks for doing that research, Ari, and for pointing any interested parties in the direction of the relevant lawsuits.

It's unfortunate that such legal information is siloed away, outside the public Web. I'll check into RECAP ("Turning PACER around" via Firefox plugin) soon.

essxjay

Gotcha. Please accept my apology for failing to extend sufficient charitable intent to your comment.

I think the lion's share of active posters to this thread are behind you, Phil, even the semi skeptical. Trying to help you in whatever small way we can gives us constructive outlet for our outrage so in a sense is somewhat therapeutic. At least, that's how I view my contributions here. Other Flyertalkers May Feel Different™.

Didn't know about that tool so thanks for the reference. ^ If I could lend you my Lex-Nex access, Phil, I most surely would. Let's see if we can't figure something out.

MikeMpls

I guess it's no longer hearsay, (or perhaps only 14% hearsay ):

And this raises another question:

Normally you cannot sue your employer for injuries covered by workers comp. Was Robert F. Dilley trying to scam/shake additional money out of the city?

ehasbrouck

RECAP is a bit of a nuisance, but it generally works. It's perfect for the sort of thing that's going on here: If one person with a PACER account pays to retrieves relevant documents while using the RECAP plugin, RECAP automagically (well, a bit clumsily, but about as well as can be hoped for) uploads them to the Internet Archive, where they can be linked to and retrieved by anyone.

Otherwise, Federal court documents are $0.08/page through PACER, even though they are public domain.

The San Francisco Public Library has one free PACER terminal in a somewhat obscure downtown branch law library, not the main library. Seattle *might* have a free PACER terminal for library card-holders somewhere.

essxjay

Reflecting on your comment further I think I glossed by what you were asking for. You're looking for free alternatives to Lex-Nex and PACER or something else? I remember stumbling on a number of web-based resources while working on a predictive analysis assignment during my last term in school. Here are a few of them:

• SCOTUS wiki
• Oyez
• OpenJurist
• Public Library of Law

Googling "alternatives to lexix-nexis" just now I found this page, which looks worth a looksee: Online Legal Research: Beyond LexisNexis & Westlaw.

ETA: I just checked my uni's library page and discovered that for $50/year any member of the public can use those resources, including remote access to online databases e.g. Lex-Nex Academic (plenty for our purposes). Maybe UW or SU offers something similar for less?

FriendlySkies

Looks like "Blgger Bb" got slapped around, after publishing a b.s. response about Phil's case...

http://washingtontechnology.com/Blog...-comments.aspx

essxjay

I do believe a few TS/S regulars have been requoted. To wit:

As always, don't skip the comments:

Let the flogging continue. ^

janetdoe

pmocek - Congratulations!! I'm using a snow day to catch up on the 50 pages of the thread I missed; sorry I'm late to the party.

I'm not sure what's more astounding - that someone attempted to delete the images, or that they didn't realize they could be recovered. A failure of our legal system on so many levels, and yet the correct outcome was achieved. ^

Not all of us are as well-informed as you. maradydd offered what appears to be a factual analysis, showing several parallels between Parks and Mocek. Is her comparison incorrect or just offensive? Will you explain why you are offended by the comparison? I'm not trying to be a troll, I just want to understand how something that seems factually true is offensive.

I wouldn't trust that. It says there is only one of me, but I know there are at least two of us, because I have run across her publications.

Olton Hall

I hear stories about law suits like officer Dilley's all the time from other officers and town officials. Typically their injuries were caused by not wearing a seat belt so workers comp won't cover injuries from willfull neglect of the department/insurance rules or state law. Once denied they sue the town. Most towns around here use to cave in quickly not wanting the press or the expensive of the suit.

SirFlysALot

There are cases where WC refuses to pay because the action was not part of the job description. In one case a programmer helped a young lady move her office equipment and dropped a desktop on his foot breaking a few toes. Since moving equipment was not part of his job the company refused to allow the claim. Guess who sued and won?