- cross-posted to:
- kansas@midwest.social
- cross-posted to:
- kansas@midwest.social
A weekly central Kansas newspaper and its publisher filed a federal lawsuit Monday over police raids last summer of its offices and the publisher’s home, accusing local officials of trying to silence the paper and causing the death of the publisher’s 98-year-old mother.
The lawsuit did not include a specific figure for potential damages. However, in a separate notice to local officials, the paper and its publisher said they believe they are due more than $10 million.
The lawsuit from the Marion County Record’s parent company and Eric Meyer, its editor and publisher, accuses the city of Marion, the Marion County Commission and five current and former local officials of violating free press rights and the right to be free from unreasonable law enforcement searches guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit also notified the defendants that Meyer and the newspaper plan to add other claims, including that officials wrongly caused the death of Meyer’s mother the day after the raids, which the lawsuit attributes to a stress-induced heart attack.
If anything, that is an unreasonably low amount. They killed a woman. Maybe not directly with one of their weapons, but not all that different.
https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-mother-raid-video-4427af3241da82767deb76028836cffd
The question, though, is how to prove a causal link between the raid and the death. Yes, we all believe (perhaps “know” in our hearts) that the stress of the encounter certainly had an effect on it–she’d surely have survived far longer than she did if the raid had not occurred. There are easy arguments to make about age and health condition, though, and I don’t think that the defense on this question would be difficult.
If the case gets that far they lose. It’s always about proximate cause and I promise you, a jury will decide that the raid was proximate cause. Surviving motions to dismiss based on immunity or venue and other stuff is where this case really will be decided. And where the appeals will be directed.