Federal judge reduces $10 million record civil award in Cordale Handy case to $2.5 million

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
Updated ·4 min read
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A federal judge has reduced the city of St. Paul’s record jury award to the family of Cordale Handy, a man killed by St. Paul police in 2017, shrinking it from $10 million to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.

After reviewing an appeal filed by the city in the excessive force case, U.S. District Judge David Doty called the $10 million civil award “patently excessive” and found that it “does in fact shock the conscience given the limited facts relating to compensatory damages presented at trial.”

Handy, who was high on bath salts when he was killed, suffered gunshot wounds to his back, lower leg, the bottom of his foot and his right forearm, leading a federal jury to conclude officer Nathaniel Younce used excessive force when he fatally shot the 29-year-old during the March 15, 2017, encounter in Dayton’s Bluff.

Younce maintained that Hardy was pointing a gun at his partner, officer Mikko Norman, who also fired his weapon but was not found liable at trial. The incident occurred out of view of security cameras, and the police department’s body-worn cameras had not rolled out yet.

The federal jury, which reached its decision last August, determined that the city should pay Handy’s family $1.5 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages after considering his past financial contributions to his family, as well as his future earning capacity had he lived.

Handy worked full time at the Salvation Army, but the court found that no evidence was submitted at trial laying out his income or proof that he shared that income with his family. Doty pointed out that plaintiff Kimberly Handy-Jones, Handy’s mother, acknowledged that her son did not support her or his four siblings, who were each awarded $2 million by the jury.

“This award bears little relation to the relevant facts,” wrote Doty, in his Feb. 8 opinion.

The city had asked that the damages be reduced to $1 million, but Doty — noting Handy’s “steadfast comfort to his family” — found $2.5 million in compensatory damages consistent with the law, if somewhat larger than awards in similar cases.

The city had asked for a new trial, in part on the basis that the jury’s verdict was inconsistent, having found Younce solely culpable while not holding Norman civilly liable. Noting that Younce fired his weapon first, the judge said separate conclusions were not necessarily contradictory.

Handy-Jones has until March 1 to decide whether to accept the new award or seek a new trial focused solely on compensatory damages.

Paul Bosman, an attorney for Handy-Jones, said it was unlikely she would accept the reduced award. He forwarded a written statement from her that said, in part:

“I suffer every day from the loss of my son, as do his siblings. He was the glue that held my family together since the death of my husband. My son’s life mattered,” the statement reads. “… No family should ever have to go through the agony of the loss of a loved one at the hands of the police. I have gone through six years of struggle to get to a trial where I listened to the horrible things that the City said about my son. Judge Doty said that he trusted the collective wisdom of twelve citizens to find justice. Finally a jury of citizens that did not look like me found the officer who killed my son responsible and found $10 million in damages. No amount of money will ever replace my son, but it shocks my conscience that Judge Doty thinks that the life of a 29-year-old black man is only worth $2.5 million despite that jury finding otherwise.”

Handy-Jones also noted she has set up a foundation in her son’s name to help other mothers who have lost children to police misconduct.

Kamal Baker, a spokesman for the St. Paul mayor’s office, said in a statement that city officials “appreciate the court’s response to our request.”

Officials are reviewing the latest decision and will decide on their next action in coming weeks, Baker said.

In December, the St. Paul City Council approved a $380,000 settlement with Handy’s fiancée, Markeeta Johnson-Blakney, who said in her lawsuit against officers and the city that she’d been held in a squad car for hours after Handy was killed, violating her constitutional right to be free from unlawful imprisonment.

The city council held a closed-door session on Wednesday to consider a legal settlement in a similar case filed by Jill Mollner, a witness who was also detained against her will in a squad car during the encounter.

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