Twenty-one University of California(UC Davis) students will receive about $30,000 each and a personal written note of apology from Chancellor Linda Katehi after they were pepper-sprayed in a now infamous attack on an Occupy Movement sit-in last year. The event, which netted the now iconic image, above, of Lt. John Pike pepper-spraying the seated and defenseless students caused nationwide outrage and calls for the Chancellor’s resignation.
“The settlement agreement notes that the regents are not conceding wrongdoing in the incident and that the defendants ‘acted reasonably and with good intentions’,” the Sacremento Bee reports:
It calls for each of the 21 plaintiffs to receive $30,000 for a total payout of $630,000. The agreement also transforms the suit into a class action, which will allow others who were hit with pepper spray during the Nov. 18 protest to submit claims for payments of up to $20,000.
That part of the deal envisions five to 10 additional claimants coming forward, with a sliding scale that reduces the payout for each of those depending on the final tally. Those claimants wil be paid from a pool of money limited to $100,000.
In addition, the settlement calls for the payment of $250,000 in legal fees and costs to the lawyers who filed the suit.
As the Sacremento Bee details, legal fees make up a large portion of the settlement.
Sadly, pepper spray is still widely in use and has not been outlawed, despite a wave of usage reports last year.
(Image via John Aravosis)
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