Unlawful Arrest

[jgbkab]

What is the name of your state? SC
My car was repossessed and i had a loaded shotgun in the car. The repo man called the police and they confiscated the gun. The police then ran my tags and subsequently my criminal records. I had a CDV charge that was dismissed in 2005 on my records and they used that as the basis to obtain a warrant for my arrest for felony possession of a weapon. The law states that I have to be convicted in order to not be able to possess a weapon. Okay, The police officer said that because the CDV was on my record that was enough for an arrest. The warrant was obtained 5 days after the shotgun was confiscated. Even the chief of police said that he had enough time to find out the disposition of the charge. I spent the night in jail and got out on a $10,000 bond. For the past two weeks I've been dealing with a major and a lt that have been saying that the officer was within policy. I even called the State Law Enforcement Division and they said that I was well within my rights to possess the gun. Yesterday, I went to the police dept and provided them with a copy of the letter that i rec'd from the solicitor in 2005. Well, today I get a call from the Major today saying that the charge was being dismissed. Should I file a claim against the city for damages or should I just hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit. Or are a claim and a lawsuit one in the same?

[acmb05]

Originally Posted by jgbkab

What is the name of your state? SC
My car was repossessed and i had a loaded shotgun in the car. The repo man called the police and they confiscated the gun. The police then ran my tags and subsequently my criminal records. I had a CDV charge that was dismissed in 2005 on my records and they used that as the basis to obtain a warrant for my arrest for felony possession of a weapon. The law states that I have to be convicted in order to not be able to possess a weapon. Okay, The police officer said that because the CDV was on my record that was enough for an arrest. The warrant was obtained 5 days after the shotgun was confiscated. Even the chief of police said that he had enough time to find out the disposition of the charge. I spent the night in jail and got out on a $10,000 bond. For the past two weeks I've been dealing with a major and a lt that have been saying that the officer was within policy. I even called the State Law Enforcement Division and they said that I was well within my rights to possess the gun. Yesterday, I went to the police dept and provided them with a copy of the letter that i rec'd from the solicitor in 2005. Well, today I get a call from the Major today saying that the charge was being dismissed. Should I file a claim against the city for damages or should I just hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit. Or are a claim and a lawsuit one in the same?

A suit for what?

[jgbkab]

For unlawful arrest maybe? Maybe monetary losses or damages?

[Kane]

What you're talking about is civil law, not criminal. You're looking for a torts lawyer - maybe civil litigation, or personal injury.

I'm not a civil atty, but the first question you need to answer is how much are your damages?

How much money did you lose?

You should also consider that suing the government is difficult - much harder than suing a business or a private person.

Also, civil litigation can be very expensive and time-consuming.

If you're able to fine a lawyer who'll take your case on a contingent-fee basis - meaning all the expenses come out of the lawyer's pocket, and he only gets paid if you win - well, you have nothing to lose.

If not, chances it's not worth pursuing even if you win. And I'm not saying you would.

[jgbkab]

Thanks for the info....

[tranquility]

Warrants are presumptively valid. The only way you could possibly find out if you have a case is to see the afidavit used to get the warrant. The officer swearing out probable cause does not have to be right. The standard is fairly low as to what he needs to do. You would clearly need an attorney to research the case law for things revolving around this specific set of facts. Because you have so little in damages, it is unlikely you will get an attorney who will do it on contingency because there would be a good deal of work both in research and discovery before it would be known if you have anything resembling a case.