Hamans-gallows
Regular Member
I don't mean to throw cold water on your lawsuit, but here it is ...
What monetary damages did you suffer? Civil lawsuits are focused on compensating victims for their loss, not on punishing an evil-doer. If you did not suffer any monetary damages, you are unlikely to recover anything in a lawsuit. Just because you believe your 2nd Amendment rights were violated does not mean that a lawsuit will produce any monetary recovery.
How much are you prepared to spend on this lawsuit? Contrary to popular opinion, most lawyers do not work on a contingency fee basis -- especially in cases where there are no monetary damages or a low likelihood of recovery. This means, the litigant (you) will have to pay your lawyer several thousand dollars to proceed to trial. Just the filing and service of process fees will amount to several hundred dollars. In general, unless there is a statute to the contrary, you cannot recover your legal fees from the loser.
BTW, the county sheriff's expenses are paid by you, as a taxpayer. As a practical matter, this means the sheriff has unlimited access to free legal representation paid for by taxpayers in the form of the county attorney or the DA. the Sheriff doesn't care how much taxpayer money he spends on lawsuits. You, on the other hand, will get write a check for your legal expenses. That also means that the Sheriff has no economic incentive to settle the case -- so you get to pay for and pursue a legal matter that could easily go from trial court through appeals.
Many government agencies are also immune from tort liability under the doctrine of sovereign immunity unless there is a statute allowing the government to be sued. For example, there are Colorado cases where a state hospital killed a patient, but was immune from liability because it is a public agency. I suspect the LE officers in your case will enjoy the same protections. To even bring a lawsuit against a public agency in Colorado has its own special procedures that must be followed or the lawsuit is tossed.
My unsolicited advice is to take the money you had planned to spend on the lawsuit -- say $10,000 -- and use it to get the Sheriff unelected.
I appreciate your advice, and largely agree with you. However, there is a large law firm in Denver that specializes in civil rights that is reviewing my claim. Yep, it's a long shot, but who knows? At least they returned my inquiry and called me and asked me for my narrative.