Defendant's Attorney: Isabelle Sabra Evans and Peter Ruben Morales for the City of Aurora and Randy Roedema

Jonathan Marshall Abramson and Yulia Nikolaevskaya for Nathan Woodyard

Isabelle Sabra Evans and Peter Ruben Morales for Jason Rosenblatt, Dale Leonard, Alicia Ward, Kyle Dittrich, Erica Marrero, James Root, Jordan Mullins-Orcutt, Darren Dunson, Rachel Nunez, Peter Cichuniec, Jeremy Cooper, and Matthew Green

Andrew Christopher Nickel and Stephen Jerome Hensen for Dr. Eric Hill

Description: Denver, Colorado civil rights lawyers represented the Plaintiffs who sued the Defendants on civil rights violation theories.


ESTATE OF ELIJAH JAVON MCCLAIN, by and through its personal representatives Sheneen McClain and Lawayne Mosley; SHENEEN MCCLAIN, individually; LAWAYNE MOSLEY, individually, Plaintiffs, sued CITY OF AURORA, COLORADO, a municipality; OFFICER NATHAN WOODYARD, in his individual and official capacity; OFFICER RANDY ROEDEMA, in his individual and official apacity; OFFICER JASON ROSENBLATT, in his individual and official capacity; OFFICER MATTHEW GREEN, in his individual and official capacity; SERGEANT DALE LEONARD, in his individual and official capacity; OFFICER ALICIA WARD, in her individual and official capacity; OFFICER KYLE DITTRICH, in his individual and official capacity; OFFICER ERICA MARRERO, in her individual and official capacity; OFFICER JAMES ROOT, in his individual and official capacity; OFFICER JORDAN MULLINS-ORCUTT, in his individual and official capacity; OFFICER DARREN DUNSON, in his individual and official capacity;
OFFICER STEPHANIE NGHIEM, in her individual and official capacity; SERGEANT RACHEL NUNEZ, in her individual and official capacity; LIEUTENANT PETER CICHUNIEC, in his individual and official capacity; PARAMEDIC JEREMY COOPER, in his individual and official capacity; DR. ERIC HILL, in his individual capacity, Defendants, for their respective roles in the death of Elijah Javon McClain in 2019.

This lawsuit arose out of the death of Elijah McClain, a young African American man who, it is undisputed, was not violating any laws when he was walking alone and was approached by Aurora Police officers on August 24, 2019. After being confronted by and struggling with Aurora police officers, and the subsequent involvement of Aurora paramedics who injected Mr. McClain with a dose of the sedative ketamine, Mr. McClain lost consciousness, dying a few days later.

Plaintiffs have sued the City of Aurora, Colorado and the individual police officers and paramedics involved on a number of federal and state grounds including, use of excessive force in violation of the Mr. McClain's Constitutional rights, denial of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, violation of substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, battery, and state law negligence.


The co-personal representatives of the Estate of Elijah McClain are Ms. Sheneen McClain and Lawayne Mosley, Elijah's biological parents. Ms. McClain and Mr. Mosley are also suing individually as plaintiffs. In Ms. McClain's, view, there is no need for additional discovery beyond what has already been produced "given the needs of the case and her deceased son's and her own privacy interests." Dkt. #86-1 at 7. Ms. McClain objects to further production of documents on the grounds of "irrelevance, undue burden, invasion of privacy, and because the discovery sought is harassing, oppressive, and intended to embarrass within the meaning of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26." Dkt. #86-1 at 8. "Ms. McClain feels strongly that because Defendants murdered her son, they should not have unfettered access to every aspect of his life, particularly when the relevance of the discovery is not readily apparent." Id. For his part, Mr. Mosely "takes no position on these discovery issues," deferring to Ms. McClain and her counsel. Id.

Outcome: Settled for $15 million.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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