Explanation
Background:
This Ordinance is submitted to settle the lawsuit known as Luzy Saenz, Administrator of the Estate of Deborah Saenz, v. Matthew Caldwell, et al., pending in the Franklin County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas, in the amount of six hundred thousand dollars and zero cents ($600,000.00), plus court costs in the amount of one hundred seventy-six dollars and zero cents ($176.00). On July 12, 2019, Deborah Saenz was shot and killed by Marcos Solis, III. Columbus police officers Matthew Caldwell, John Coaty, Todd Eagon, Sean Noltemeyer, and Rodney Reed (collectively “Defendant Officers”) responded to Deborah Saenz’ apartment on a call for domestic violence on July 11, 2019, the day before her death. The Defendant Officers did not arrest Marcos Solis, III. After the Defendant Officers left Deborah Saenz’ apartment on July 11, 2019, Columbus’ emergency communications center received a 911 hang up call from Deborah Saenz’ phone number. Emergency dispatcher, Laura Thomas, did not air that 911 hang up call over the police radio. The next morning, on July 12, 2019, Marcos Solis, III, shot and killed Deborah Saenz. The facts and circumstances leading up to, surrounding, and including the death of Deborah Saenz, as alleged by Plaintiff, (collectively “the Incident”) are more fully described in Plaintiff’s Complaint (“the Complaint”) filed on July 7, 2021, in the lawsuit captioned Luzy Saenz v. Matthew Caldwell, et al., Case No. 21CV04224, pending in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas (“the Lawsuit”). Plaintiff’s various causes of action are specified in the Complaint. Plaintiff named Matthew Caldwell, John Coaty, Todd Eagon, Sean Noltemeyer, Rodney Reed, Laura Thomas, and the City of Columbus as defendants in the Lawsuit. The City of Columbus was previously dismissed from the Lawsuit. In the Complaint, Plaintiff alleges, among other things, that: (a) Defendants were willful, wanton, and/or reckless under Ohio law, (b) as a direct and proximate re...
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