The Baton Rouge Metro Council has settled a lawsuit with a Virginia law professor and attorney, agreeing to pay Thomas Frampton $86,000 after he alleged the city had retaliated against him for exercising his First Amendment rights.
City officials also promised during an Aug. 24 meeting to dismiss contempt allegations against Frampton. The settlement follows an order by a federal judge, John W. deGravelles, that concluded the city had acted in “bad faith and in retaliation” against the professor.
Last year, Frampton represented Clarence and Tanya Green in a civil suit against the city, alleging that Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD) officers violated the family’s civil rights after a teenage family member was strip-searched and officers conducted a warrantless home search following a traffic stop. The city agreed to a $35,000 settlement in that case.
After the Green family settlement announcement, Frampton released body camera footage from the traffic stop that was broadcast in a CBS Evening News story. The following day, the city petitioned to jail Frampton for contempt of juvenile court, arguing that he had released juvenile court records without proper authorization, according to Frampton’s lawsuit filed in the Middle District of Louisiana.
No such juvenile criminal proceeding actually existed, and the body cam footage had already been made public during an adult criminal proceeding, according to the lawsuit.
“Few people have done more to promote the cause of abolishing BRPD than Chief (Murphy) Paul and City Attorney (Anderson) Dotson,” Frampton said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “They could have settled this case for no money and an apology to the Green family, but instead they chose to set $86,000 of taxpayer money on fire. It oozes contempt for the Constitution, the taxpayer and common sense, and it’s a little baffling that anyone involved in this scandal still has a job.”
Frampton’s attorney, William Most, noted that the city had spent an unknown amount of taxpayer money on attorneys during the course of this litigation.
“We hope that the city has learned to respect its citizens’ rights,” Most said.