Jerry L. Steering, Esq. is a Police Misconduct Attorney who has been suing the police since 1984, including in San Bernardino County, for Wrongful Death – Police Shooting case, as well as for false arrests, police brutality * excessive force and malicious criminal prosecutions.

Police caused Wrongful Deaths fall into two jurisdictional categories; Claims that arise under state law, and claims that arise under federal law.

In California, police caused Wrongful Death claims that arise under California State Law are those claims brought by the surviving heirs of the decedent under California Civil Procedure Code Section 377.60, the California Wrongful Death Statute, and for battery for the pre-death pain and suffering endured by the decedent before his/her death.

Cases for the Wrongful Death of one’s heirs under federal law arise under the civil rights statute that we use everyday to sue state and local police officers for violations of federal constitutional rights; 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

The heirs of the decedent, those entitled to inherit from the decedent in the absence of a will, can “stand in the shoes” of the decedent, and sue for violation of the decedent’s right to be free from the use of excessive force, and the pre-death pain and suffering accompanying that use of excessive force under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Those parents of slain children, or children of slain parents can also sue the police for the interference with their parent-child relationship under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

THE DOCTRINE OF QUALIFIED IMMUNITY MORE OFTEN THAN NOT PROTECTS THE POLICE FROM LIABILITY FOR THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS UNDER FEDERAL LAW.

Over the past two decades, the United States Supreme Court and the federal Circuit Courts of Appeals have been allowing state and local police officers to shoot and kill civilians in more and more situations, making it extremely difficult for the survivors of wrongful police shootings to successfully sue the police for the deaths of their loved ones.

Even when a federal District Court or Court of Appeals, or even the U.S. Supreme Court find that the police shooting of a civilian violated that civilian’s federal constitutional right to be free from the use of such excessive and deadly force, the Court’s more often than not find in favor of the police officer based on the doctrine of qualified immunity; a doctrine that states that unless one can point to another published Opinion on a case basically “on all fours” (sufficiently similar) with the case before it such that any reasonably well-trained police officer would be on notice that such use of deadly force constituted a constitutional violation, the police win. See, “A Practical Cure for the Curse of Qualified Immunity“.

Because Mr. Steering has been suing the police in Wrongful Death cases since 1984, his many years of experience allows you to increase your chances of actually winning your Wrongful Death lawsuit against the police.

If your loved one has been the victim of a police caused Wrongful Death, the Jerry L. Steering can help you.

Call Mr. Steering at (949) 474-1849, or email him at jerry@steeringlaw.com

Jerry L. Steering, Esq.

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