So, would it be unrealistic to expect that of 100% of that $1.6 million, this guy can expect his attorney's fees to sap anywhere from 25% - 40% of that total, and if the judgement/settlement exposes it to taxation, another 35% - 45% are sucked out of the pot by state and federal revenue agencies, leaving him - potentially - with as little as 15% ($240,000) of that $1.6 million figure?
Impossible to say how the damages were treated, but I expect the attorney fees were probably a third, roughly. May or may not be any taxes on the rest of it, and there is still the part against the medical facility and people there. I don't have a problem with the attorney fee, without a contingency fee attorney, instead of getting 70% of 1.6 million, he would have gotten 100% of about $100,000, because that's the most the city/county would have voluntarily offered, if they even offered anything at all instead of just telling him to pack sand.
Personally I think he went low, but there's the whole 'Bird in the hand' issue that favors settling, and Deming isn't exactly Chicago, so there's a real limit to how many eggs are actually in that goose. One of the things a plaintiff's attorney also does is research other jury awards in similar cases so he will have a clear idea of just what parameters he can shoot for in settlement negotiations in that jurisdiction.
I'd be filing disciplinary complaints with the state bar over both the judge and anyone from the prosecutor's office whose name appeared in the search documents or communications with the cops or hospital while this was going on, and once the medical provider end of the suit was out of the way, likewise with the state medical licensing authorities for every provider who used actual or constructive force without patient consent to effect this BS. It's not likely any of them would lose their licenses due to there being a facially-valid warrant, but they all need to be spooked into not doing this kind of thing ever again.
