A person arrested after burning an American flag near the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland has settled his lawsuit against the city for $225,000.
Facts and Allegations
On July 20, 2016, Gregory Lee Johnson arrived at an intersection near the site of the Republican National Convention to burn an American flag.
Mr. Johnson claimed that officers at the scene immediately extinguished his fire and arrested him. He was charged with the misdemeanor assault of two employees of the media company InfoWars, but the criminal case against Mr. Johnson was dropped shortly thereafter.
Mr. Johnson sued Cleveland, Cleveland public-safety director Michael McGrath, police chief Calvin Williams, and the police officers who arrested him, Timothy Gaertner, William Stanton, James Bellomy, and Donald Taylor, alleging that they violated rights guaranteed by 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Mr. Johnson asserted claims for prior restraint, retaliatory arrest, wrongful arrest, property seizure, property retention, and malicious prosecution.
Mr. Johnson maintained that video showed that he was not engaging in any criminal behavior. He argued that the city initially wanted to charge him for desecrating the flag, but then realized that this behavior was protected speech.
Mr. Johnson argued that extinguishing the flag violated his First Amendment civil rights.
The defendants maintained during their prosecution of Mr. Johnson that he had lit himself on fire and that the officers had put out the fire to preserve his safety and the safety of others at the convention.
Result
The parties negotiated a pretrial settlement, with the city’s insurer, First Specialty Insurance Corp., agreeing to pay Mr. Johnson $225,000.
The case is Johnson v. City of Cleveland, No. 1:18-cv-00076 (N.D. Oh. June 6, 2019). Attorneys involved include: Ashlie Case Sletvold; The Chandra Law Firm; for Gregory Lee Johnson; Subodh Chandra; The Chandra Law Firm; for Gregory Lee Johnson; Brian Bardwell; The Chandra Law Firm; for Gregory Lee Johnson; Stephen Funk; Roetzel & Andress; Akron, OH for City of Cleveland, Michael McGrath, Calvin Williams, Timothy Gaertner, William Stanton, James Bellomy, Donald Taylor.
Insurance Coverage Law Center Comment
This report is based on information that was provided by plaintiff’s counsel. Additional information was gleaned from court documents. Counsel of Bellomy, Gaertner, McGrath, Stanton, Taylor, Williams and the city of Cleveland did not respond to the reporter’s phone calls. The remaining defendants’ counsel was not asked to contribute.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].