04.13.07
City of Round Rock and RRISD Settle Student Protest Lawsuit
AAS link.
The Round Rock City Council voted 6-1 Thursday to approve the settlement, ending the federal class action lawsuit filed against the city and the Round Rock school district in December. The lawsuit claimed the city and the district violated the students’ Constitutional rights of assembly and free speech when police gave out 204 Class C misdemeanor citations during the demonstrations.
The city agreed to dismiss any pending charges against students and pay the Texas Civil Rights Project — which represents the students — $30,350 for attorneys’ fees, plus $41,400 so the students can file motions to have the charges against them expunged.
The Round Rock school district also agreed to pay $20,000 for the plaintiff’s legal fees and to seal the disciplinary records related to the protest.
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The city said the settlement costs will be paid by its insurance carrier.
Ah, yes, wrongful prosecution insurance. It took a year, a lawsuit, and just shy of $92,000 to determine what a colossal mistake this was. Hopefully everyone involved has learned a civics lesson from this.
dembones said,
April 14, 2007 at 8:54 am
Hooray for the Texas Civil Rights Project!
Interstingly, the council arrives at this, the correct, decision only one month before they are all up for re-election. We hope that Round Rock voters will remember the council’s original disdain for the students’ Constitutional rights instead of this final admission of mistake.
Voters in Round Rock are ready to break up this good ol’ boys club.
TAllan said,
April 16, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Let’s see if I understand the civics lesson here: Students violate city ordinance to protest in support of law violations, disrupt classes (thereby cancelling out 1st and 14th ammendment protections for their actions - look it up!), get a civil rights mouth piece, and my tax dollars get wasted? These kids knew they were in violation, yet opted to continue. Part of being mature is being able to accept the consequences of one’s actions. I agree that the city council should be held accountable for poor judgement, but for exactly the opposite reasons as implied by dembones….