The U.S. and New York State Constitutions guarantee rights to all citizens. When those rights are violated through act or intimidation by government officials, this is considered a civil rights violation and the law allows a claim to be made against the government. Among our civil rights are freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom from false arrest or false prosecution, and the freedom from the use of excessive force. Our civil rights include due process in any court, equal non discriminating protection under any laws, and liberty. In practical terms, government employees are forbidden from using their power to intentionally cause harm in the workplace, on the streets, in the jails, at the election polls, or in any way power is abused. The law applies to all government, including  towns, villages, cities, counties, states, the federal government and all agencies, departments and employees of each.  

Most lawyers never handle a civil rights case. Kevin Luibrand has represented individuals and businesses in over 40 civil rights cases, and is renowned as one of the few premier civil rights lawyers in the state. He has obtained verdicts and settlements for clients that have benefited many, and changed how government conducts itself. One regional newspaper described him as "a lawyer who sets records in the courtroom"  and another calls him "the most high profile civil rights attorney in the region".  Kevin Luibrand has instructed other lawyers on the art of presenting civil rights cases, and lawyers across the state refer civil rights cases to him or ask his views on particular facts.

Noteworthy civil rights verdicts or settlements obtained by Kevin Luibrand(prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome):

$3,635,000 verdict for malicious prosecution for false criminal and charges lodged against a businessman. The court reduced the amount of the award after trial.

$1,750,000 verdict for use of excessive force against a woman. An appeals court reduced the amount of the award on appeal.

$180,000 settlement for a deputy sheriff retaliated against at work for exercising his freedom of speech and running for political office.

$1,800,000 settlement at trial for a man denied reasonable medical care while in prison.

$835,000 verdict for a jail ignoring an inmate's complaints of chest pain that resulted in a heart attack. Case in on appeal.

$650,000 settlement for retaliation claim by guards against sheriff and county.

$250,000 settlement for a man physically and without cause  forced into a police car and dropped miles out of town.

$325,000 settlement for a group of people who's personal data was improperly obtained from internal police records.

$265,000 settlement for two employees who's e-mail information was improperly obtained by their government employer.

$245,000 combined settlement and trial on behalf of an investigator subjected to excessive force by a police officer and a citizen.

$210,000 settlement obtained for a woman mistreated in jail by the medical staff that caused her to experience a miscarriage.

$105,000 verdict for two people illegally strip searched.

$300,000 for a minister and his family wrongly accused by social services of abuse.

$60,000 for harassing comments made by government workers concerning a state worker's sexuality.



 

When people hear the term "civil rights", they often think of  racial discrimination.  Racial discrimination was the reason that the civil rights law was approved by Congress in the mid 1960s. But,  the civil rights law today includes all of the following rights and more:

freedom of religion

freedom of speech

freedom from discrimination based upon
   race, creed, color, sex, or national origin

freedom from discrimination based upon age

freedom from false arrest

freedom from malicious prosecution

zoning abuses

violation of privacy rights

   Kevin Luibrand has represented individuals on claims for each of the above.