City Settles Danbury 11 Lawsuit

Danbury settled its four-year lawsuit with the Danbury 11, a group of 11 people rounded up in Danbury as day laborers by city police and federal immigration officials Sept. 19, 2006.

With help from Yale University law students, nine of the 11 sued Danbury and federal authorities, a year later, saying the city and federal government had no right to arrest them on what they called an assumption the men were illegal immigrants. The lawsuit claimed their civil rights had been violated and the enforcement of federal immigration was improper.

The city settled the suit for $400,000, Danbury Mayor Mark  Boughton said. He called it a "nuisance" sum reached by the city's insurance company.

Attempts to reach the Yale students Tuesday earlier in the day were unsuccessful.

It was unknown Tuesday how much money was spent on the case over the last four years.

It was also unclear Tuesday how much of the $400,000 will go to the nine defendants and how much will be paid to cover the legal costs.

“This isn’t about civil rights. It’s about legal fees,” Boughton said. “If there had been a civil rights violation, they wouldn’t have settled. They’d keep going to recoup their millions.”

Boughton said the city’s insurance carrier will pay the entire $400,000, and the taxpayers will pay nothing.

“It’s their nickel. They get to call the shots,” Boughton said.

He said the lawsuit is over, and it did not change any city procedures or policies. There is no apology and there is no change to the city’s agreement with immigration officials on the 287 G agreement between Danbury and the federal government.

“At one point they wanted that agreement changed and they wanted an apology. The settlement calls for neither,” Boughton said.