Will Tyre Nichols' federal $550 million civil case be placed on hold?

A separate civil case took center stage as attorneys argued over how the Tyre Nichols civil case against the City of Memphis, and several Memphis police officers, should proceed amidst two active criminal prosecutions.

That case was filed by Monterrious Harris weeks after five Memphis police officers were criminally indicted in Shelby County Criminal Court and alleges that the same officers that beat Nichols also beat Harris on Jan. 4 — three days before Nichols was pulled over and beaten.

That case was referenced by multiple defense attorneys since the federal judge in that case, John Thomas Fowlkes, issued a ruling in late August to pause all proceedings in that civil case until the criminal cases are resolved.

The ruling came prior to the federal indictment, and defense attorney John Keith Perry said Friday a complete stay in that case should result in a complete stay in the Nichols civil case.

"They're not the same case, but we think the implications in our case are heightened if the court would undermine the Harris case ruling," Perry, the attorney representing former officer Tadarrius Bean in all three cases, said. "...If you delve into discovery in this case, the court is taking a position that this case is less problematic than the Harris case."

Another attorney argued that judges in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee need to "speak with one voice" when it comes to similar rulings. The judge overseeing the Nichols case, Judge Mark Norris, said he respects Fowlkes' ruling, but that judges have the discretion to issue different opinions.

Not all defendants in the Nichols case, or the Harris case, favor placing a stay on the case. The City of Memphis in both cases voiced opposition to the stay. Robert Spence is representing one of the named former Memphis Fire Department personnel, Michelle Whitaker, and opposed staying the case in its entirety.

Spence argued that there could be a stay placed on the five former Memphis police officers who have been criminally indicted, preventing them from sharing discovery, until their criminal cases are disposed. While the stay on those defendants is in place, however, Spence said the other defendants could begin the discovery process.

Spence is also representing Harris in the other civil case.

Attorneys for Nichols' family, led in court Friday by Antonio Romanucci, agreed with Spence's proposal with the addition that the officers facing criminal charges should respond to the complaint initially filed in the case and take part in the discovery process.

Norris said he would be taking the arguments under advisement, and spend a bit of time figuring out the background information on the Harris case before ruling on the stay. He also said he would hold off issuing a scheduling order since his ruling on staying the case could impact the dates listed in that schedule.

The Nichols civil case requests $550 million in damages and cites multiple levels of negligence. The City of Memphis, along with Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis, are named as defendants in the case and have filed motions requesting they be dismissed.

The motion to dismiss, along with a separate motion to strike all mention of the Atlanta Police Department's now-defunct RED DOG Unit that Davis was part of when she worked there, has been sent to Magistrate Judge Annie T. Christoff to be ruled on. That ruling has not yet been issued.

Nichols was pulled over by members of the Memphis Police Department's SCORPION Unit on Jan. 7 this year. The officers proceeded to pull him from the car and to the ground, shouting numerous conflicting commands at him.

Eventually, he ran from the officers who were pepper spraying him and at times kneeling on him and was later caught by other SCORPION Unit officers about 100 yards from his mother's home. The officers then punched, kicked, pepper sprayed and hit Nichols with a baton. He died three days later.

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Five officers face two different criminal cases. They were initially indicted in late January in a state case and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, official oppression, two counts of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of official misconduct.

Tuesday afternoon, they were indicted in federal court and each face one count of excessive force, deliberate indifference, conspiracy to witness tamper and obstruction of justice via witness tampering. They face up to life in federal prison.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Federal judge to consider pausing Tyre Nichols $550 million civil suit