A native of Ethiopia gets $305k verdict against Maryland Transportation Authority

By Brendan Kearney | Daily Record

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – A Baltimore jury has awarded $305,000 to a former Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) taxi driver who was arrested — and later unsuccessfully prosecuted — after complaining to Maryland Transportation Authority police about a shuttle bus that was blocking his exit.

In the course of the April 2005 incident, Dawit Seyoum, a native of Ethiopia who currently resides in Hyattsville, Maryland, suffered tears to his right bicep and tendons in that arm, leading to an impingement in that shoulder, according to his attorney, Cary J. Hansel III. The judgment, including economic, non-economic and punitive damages against the two officers involved, will allow him to undergo the required surgery, Hansel said.

“He’s very happy to have the determination that what happened to him was wrong,” said Hansel, of Joseph, Greenwald & Laake P.A. “The emotional benefit of that ruling for people in those situations is incalculable.”

Seyoum, an Ethiopian immigrant with a doctoral degree, worked at the state Department of Human Resources and taught at Baltimore universities before joining the BWI Taxi Companay at in 1999, according to Hansel.

“It’s a ‘Don’t judge the book by its cover’ story. You never know who your cab driver’s going to be,” Hansel said. “His nickname was The Professor … and that’s sort of his demeanor, which makes what happened so shocking.”

According to court papers, Seyoum, 61, picked up three passengers around midnight and was about to take them to their downtown Baltimore hotel when he found himself boxed in. He honked his horn, then got out of his minivan and walked over to Officer James Meyers, who was managing traffic on the loop’s lower level in light of ongoing construction.

After that, accounts diverge.

Assistant Attorney General Glenn T. Marrow declined to comment for this story, citing the possibility of post-trial motions. But in court documents, he argued Seyoum repeatedly disregarded Meyers’ orders to return to his cab and instead carried on clamoring; and that Corporal Jeffrey Sheriff arrived on the scene and, despite resistance from Seyoum, arrested him.

Conversely, in his September 2007 amended complaint, Seyoum claimed Meyers “began ‘yelling’ at him without provocation” and that Sheriff “appeared suddenly and of his own accord,” “pinned” Seyoum against his own cab, and then “slammed” him onto the hood of a nearby cab. In the process, Seyoum’s glasses were broken and his concerns about his injured shoulder went unheeded, the complaint alleged.

Seyoum briefly returned to work but the limited mobility of his injured arm interfered with his ability to drive. He is now unemployed, Hansel said.

In September 2005, Seyoum, represented by one of Hansel’s law partners, stood trial in Anne Arundel County District Court on charges of failure to obey an order, disorderly conduct, hindering and obstructing a public place, and resisting arrest, as well as horn-blowing and parking violations. The judge found Seyoum not guilty of all charges, and testimony in that case from the officers and three cab company employees who witnessed the arrest had a direct bearing on the civil trial before Baltimore City Circuit Judge Althea M. Handy late last month.

The police did not testify — the state put on no case at all — but Hansel compared their story from the criminal case with their deposition testimony in the civil case, highlighting inconsistencies in the accounts. In support of Seyoum’s punitive damages claims, Hansel also pointed the jury to other instances, including a January 2003 incident near the Fort McHenry Tunnel, in which Sheriff “kind of inserted himself into a situation and escalated it.”

The same three employees of BWI Taxi Co. testified again on behalf of Seyoum. (The three women in Seyoum’s cab that night could not be located.)

After a four-day trial, the jury found Meyers and Sheriff had maliciously violated Seyoum’s constitutional rights; battered, falsely arrested and falsely imprisoned him; and maliciously prosecuted him. The panel awarded $25,000 in economic damages, $250,000 in non-economic damages and $30,000 in punitive damages. Hansel said the state made a pretrial settlement offer that was “much, much, much lower than the verdict.”

Hansel said the $200,000 cap on non-economic damages against the state, which did not apply here because of the finding of malice, has made such behavior by law enforcement a public policy concern because lawyers are often hesitant to take a case with limited damages and fees.

“There’s nobody policing the police, and it leads to things like what happened to my client,” said Hansel.

Dawit Seyoum v. Officer Meyers, et al.
Court: Baltimore City Circuit
Case No: 24-C-07-005048
Proceedings: Jury trial
Judge: Althea M. Handy
Outcome: Plaintiff
Dates: Incident: April 1, 2005; Suit filed: July 12, 2007; Disposition: Oct. 30, 2008
Plaintiff’s Attorney: Cary J. Hansel III of Joseph, Greenwald & Laake P.A.
Defense Attorney: Assistant Attorney General Glenn T. Marrow
Counts: State constitutional violations, false arrest, false imprisonment, battery, malicious prosecution
Award: $305,000