CLE Forum
General Category => Law/Legal => Topic started by: Kenneth Winslow on June 25, 2020, 08:51:25 PM
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Last September I was rebuking the First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro on a Sunday morning when I was told I was being disorderly and if I didn't leave the area I would be taken to jail.
https://youtu.be/9S-CDCwuJr4
We filed a lawsuit shortly thereafter and a couple of weeks ago we settled the suit without going to court. (This case was settled rather quickly.)
Here is what the City of Murfreesboro agreed to do:
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:f85bb4b4-cf76-4bae-a8d2-4a0f0fc2b087
Please let me know if anyone has any questions.
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I saw them agreeing to reform and educate, but what about restitution for the unlawful violation of your rights? What exactly did they agree to do?
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Basically just pay my lawyer $24,750, and me $250.
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:85d4ec19-a1b8-41dd-80ff-8920b3b9f18a
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Easy payday for the lawyer. I'm glad they are doing some reforming because it is senseless for police officers to act that way, in addition to the fact that it costs the taxpayers money and wastes your time and the court's time.
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Well done Kenneth.
Although the sums of money and the personal time and the courts time is quite large, the litigation and subsequent documentation that will exist in to the foreseeable future is valuable for every government office and enforcement agency throughout the USA.
You could even print it out and take a copy with you every time you go out street preaching and in times of trouble pull it out and inform officers who might not be up to speed that they lost the case last time and they will lose again if they continue to behave in such a way.
An individual officer who has any sense would shy away from having their name "dragged through the mud" after reading something like that.
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Easy payday for the lawyer.
In this case it seems to be.
However, sometimes they put in a lot of time into a case and get nothing in return.
With the Bridgestone Arena case, that I am now involved in, that has been going on for over four years and I know they have put a ton of work into it.
it costs the taxpayers money
Something I've learned along the way is that these cities have insurance that pays for these things. The lawyer gets a check from an insurance company, not the city.
Though the taxpayers pay the insurance premiums, (i.e. me and my neighbors) I wonder if the insurance premiums will increase because of this.
What I do know is that the city tax assessor has increased my "property value" year by year so my property taxes have also gone up, along with everyone else's, I presume.
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You could even print it out and take a copy with you every time you go out street preaching and in times of trouble pull it out and inform officers who might not be up to speed that they lost the case last time and they will lose again if they continue to behave in such a way.
Thank you for the reminder.
I've said the is what I need to do, but I haven't thought about that in a while.
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Follow up:
Friday night I went to a public park here in Murfreesboro to preach at a haunted house event. The Parks and Recreation guy demanded that I leave and complained to the police.
Though a police officer asked me nicely to leave he never demanded I leave nor threatened me with citation or arrest.
At the 34:31 point in this video you can see in his hand some laminated papers. I believe that may be the training or guidelines that MPD is now required to give their officers.
Nonetheless, this is another instance since my lawsuit that the MPD did the right thing and didn't stop me from preaching.
https://youtu.be/JDs30JiMP2w