The University of California, Davis, has reached a settlement agreement with 21 students regarding a pepper-spray incident that took place in November of 2011 during an Occupy UC event. The students were allegedly sprayed by officers for refusing to move from a public walkway, during a protest that caused some students to be unable to move about the campus freely. Campus police officers responding to the scene used pepper spray to move the protesters out of line when they refused to comply with requests. Although no one was seriously hurt, the protestors suffered a great deal of pain at the time of the accident and mental anguish from the publicity that followed the event.
Controversy levels have been high ever since the videotaped pepper spraying incident was used by Occupy movements to bolster their arguments of police overreaction to their protests and gatherings. International condemnation surged for the violence of the action, which many felt was unnecessary. Others, however, were quick to condemn the protesters themselves for their refusal to comply with police commands. They argued that all students had a right to freely use the campus and that the Occupy protestors had no right to inconvenience other students whose beliefs might not coincide with their own. Other Occupy movement incidents across the country have sparked a continued debate about the line between free speech and the right to assemble peaceably, and what might constitute illegal trespass or interference with others’ rights.
The settlement between UC and the protestors totaled $1 million. After court costs and lawyers’ fees are deducted, each student involved in the protest will receive about $30,000 in settlement. This has enraged partisans on both sides of the issue, with some claiming that the settlement fee was far too low, and others arguing that it should never have been made at all.
The nature of personal injury cases is that the law provides the opportunity for a person who has been injured to argue in a fair and impartial court that the offending party should pay damages. Regardless of one’s opinion of the outcome of this case, that is exactly what happened here. The students were able to utilize the civil court system to peacefully argue their cases and were awarded compensation commensurate with their injuries. The reasons behind those injuries and the political motivations either group may have had are not for a civil judge to evaluate.
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The Demas Law Group, P.C., represents victims of all types of personal injury accidents. Work-related injuries and vehicle accidents are common types of personal injury cases, but Demas Law Group can also help with dog bites, slip-and-fall accidents, injuries from defective products, and any other type of accident that causes physical or mental injury.