UPDATE Sept. 15, 2025 – The City Council’s finance committee voted to approve the proposed $90 million global settlement, paving the way for a vote from the full council body at its next meeting on Sept. 25.
This morning, Chicago corporation counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry announced a proposed $90 million global settlement resolving 176 police misconduct lawsuits filed against the city by people who were arrested and convicted in cases tied to former Chicago Police Department (CPD) Sgt. Ronald Watts and other members of his tactical team.
The civil rights law firm of Loevy + Loevy and the Law Office of Kenneth Flaxman are representing plaintiffs in the cases and issued the following joint statement just after 4:00 p.m. today.
“After nearly a decade of litigation, we are happy that the parties were able to work together to reach a resolution to this dark chapter in the City’s history,” the statement reads. “This was the responsible thing to do and is ultimately a fair result for all parties.”
Following Richardson-Lowry’s announcement, Mark Clements, a CPD torture survivor and organizer, called the move a great step forward. At the same time, he said it’s Chicago residents who will be footing the bill should the proposal be approved by the Chicago City Council later this month.
“For decades, people complained of the abuse of police officers. They were ignored, and now the taxpayers will have to pay,” Clements said. “As a citizen, a taxpayer, I am very concerned, but I do understand why it occurred. It occurred because most city officials ignored the outcry of people who found themselves placed into horrible situations of being sent to prison for crimes that they did not commit.”
According to an analysis by WTTW, Chicago residents have spent $231.2 million so far in 2025 to resolve police misconduct lawsuits.
Andrew M. Stroth, a civil rights attorney and executive director of the nonprofit Truth, Hope and Justice Initiative, echoed Clement’s sentiments.
“It’s refreshing that the city of Chicago leadership is going to work to proactively resolve these cases in a manner that respects victims of wrongful convictions and wrongful incarcerations, while at the same time serving as a fiduciary to taxpayers,” Sroth told The TRiiBE.
Stroth has also represented police torture survivors and is currently representing the family of Dexter Reed in their federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and five police officers who were involved in his fatal shooting.
Additionally, Stroth’s nonprofit has conducted extensive research and data analysis on wrongful conviction cases from the past two decades. A 2024 report from the Truth, Hope and Justice Initiative found that the city spent $750 million on wrongful convictions litigation from 2000 to 2023.
“We believe that the city of Chicago has north of $1 billion of wrongful conviction cases pending today, including Ronald Watts as the defendant, including [ex-Chicago detective] Reynaldo Guevara as a defendant,” Stroth said.
Stroth recommends that wrongful conviction cases be assessed early before the city spends millions on outside counsel. The finance committee, he said, should also be involved in the process before a case goes to trial.
The Chicago City Council’s finance committee is expected to vote on the proposed settlement on Sept. 15.
“We don’t have to wait for the next Ronald Watts, the next Reynaldo Guevara, the next Jon Burge. We should be putting systems in place to stop this from happening in the first place. That’s the win for the city of Chicago,” Stroth said.
Read more from our live news coverage below:
11:45 a.m.
After fielding questions from reporters for 30 minutes, Richardson-Lowry reiterated that the proposed settlement offer is the right move for the city.
“Under the facts and circumstances that we have, we had, again, two officers who were investigated by the FBI who pled guilty on a host of issues and adversely impacted the lives of many; those convictions were reversed,” she said. “We have an opportunity to solve for a host of those problems, and we’re going to do that. So it is, in this instance, given those facts [and] circumstances, the fiscally responsible thing to do and the legal proper course.”
11:42 a.m.
The range of payouts for plaintiffs in the settlement cases varies. The lowest payout is $150,000 and the highest is between $3.4 and $3.9 million. The settlement offers are determined by time in custody and per year of incarceration, according Deputy Corporation Counsel Victoria Benson.
11:37 a.m.
The Chicago City Council must approve the proposed settlement offer. In response to a question about how she anticipated council members might respond to the proposal, given that they have previously denied other settlement offers, Richardson-Lowry said: “Some alders may not be old enough to know who Ronald Watts was and what he represented, but for those who are more seasoned, they had to live through it. It was a horrible time for the city.”
The City Council’s finance committee is expected to vote on the matter on Sept. 15, and if they approve it, the full City Council body will vote on it at their next monthly meeting on Sept. 25. Most recently, the council’s finance committee rejected a $1.25 million settlement for the family of Dexter Reed, who Chicago police officers fatally shot during a traffic stop in 2024.
“Yes, there have been occasions where they’ve taken a different view on individualized settlement, but in this case, given the legacy of Watts and Mr. Kallatt Mohammed, given the sheer volume of people that you can say they touched adversely, and given the exposure to the city and the fiscal responsibility this represents, I’m hopeful that each alder will stand with us on this.”
Former CPD officer Kallatt Mohammed also was accused of stealing money during an FBI sting operation. He was also named as a defendant in some of the settlement cases.
11:30 a.m.
During today’s press conference, Richardson-Lowry said the settlement involves 176 cases with 180 plaintiffs. She also explained the rationale behind the proposed settlement.
“This is a legacy case, a magnitude unlike anything I had previously seen. It is the largest number we’ve had, and it remains the largest number associated with a particular police officer,” Richardson-Lowry told reporters.
As part of her analysis of the Watts cases, which began after she was appointed by Mayor Bradon Johnson to lead the city’s law department in 2023, Richardson-Lowry told reporters that she tapped Victoria Benson to lead the Chicago Law Department’s new complex litigation division to examine the cost of continued litigation.
“Is it appropriate to settle? Should we be in mediation? Is it a fact pattern that dictates continued litigation? We’re not afraid to litigate. We’ve won some federal civil rights cases, that is true, but the courts have also spoken with some of the largest judgments of late,” Richardson-Lowry said. “The courts are saying, ‘solve for this problem.’ We’re answering. We’re solving for this problem by ridding them [of] all of the Ronald Watts cases that are before them.”
In total, the costs of continuing to litigate the Watts cases for the next five years were estimated to be between $350 million and $500 million. She added that the proposed global settlement offer is saving the city money.
“So we’re saving the city hundreds of millions of dollars by solving the Ronald Watts cases today, $95 million all in, including attorneys’ fees,” Richardson-Lowry said.
11:25 a.m.
Richardson-Lowry said each of the 176 police misconduct cases were federal cases and that the plaintiffs had collectively spent between 182 and 200 years in custody. Nearly all of them were granted a Certificate of Innocence.
She also said that almost all magistrate judges in the northern district had a Sgt. Ronald Watts case on their docket.
“We’re answering, we’re solving for this problem by ridding them [of] all of the Ronald Watts cases that are before them,” Richardson-Lowry said. “Again, almost every magistrate judge had a Ronald Watts case; that is extremely rare.”
She continued: “We needed to take a fresh look at how we were going about seeking resolution for what had been a storied past for the city of Chicago, and I will share with you that I did talk to the [CPD] superintendent so that he would be aware of where we are with respect to the resolution of the cases and the ultimate outcome.”
She added that CPD. Supt. Snelling was supportive of her decision.
“The cases involved in this settlement do not represent the Chicago Police Department of today,” Snelling said in a written statement. “In addition to enhanced policies and consistent training, we are continuously implementing safeguards to strengthen accountability and supervision. These safeguards aim to both prevent misconduct and rebuild trust within our communities across the city.”
11:23 a.m.
In response to a question from a reporter about how much the city’s Law Department paid out to private law firms to defend Chicago police officers, Richardson-Lowery said the city has spent $25 million between 2016 to 2024 in cases specifically tied to Sgt. Ronald Watts.
“This was not a difficult conclusion for me to reach. It was a difficult task to accomplish, but the conclusion seemed clear in terms of where I thought we were from a liability standpoint, what I thought was a fiscally responsible thing to do, we needed to stop the flow of funds out with respect to these particular officers,” Richardson-Lowry said.
11:22 a.m.
Right now, Chicago’s corporation counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry is hosting a press conference to share details with reporters about the pending $90 million global settlement.
“This is a legacy case,” Richardson-Lowry said. “This is the first of its kind in the city’s history.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson, Richardson-Lowry and CPD Supt. Larry Snelling released a joint statement ahead of the briefing.
“This is the first time we’ve reached a comprehensive settlement to resolve wrongful conviction claims,” Johnson wrote. “It’s a historic moment that reflects our commitment to accountability and healing.”
The settlement offer requires approval from the Chicago City Council before it takes effect.
“The global settlement offers a pathway to closure, reducing the potential for adverse verdicts, lessening long-term legal expenses, easing fiscal pressure and reinforcing the City’s commitment to constitutional policing which leads to greater accountability,” the joint statement reads.
ORIGINAL STORY — Mary Richardson-Lowry, Chicago’s corporation counsel, is scheduled to host a media briefing today at 11:15 a.m. to announce a proposed $90 million global settlement resolving 176 police misconduct lawsuits filed against the city by people who were arrested and convicted in cases tied to former Chicago Police Department (CPD) Sgt. Ronald Watts and other members of his tactical team. Their convictions were subsequently vacated, according to a written release from a Department of Law spokesperson.
The Chicago City Council finance committee will consider the proposed $90 million settlement offer during its next meeting on Sept. 15.
Watts is a former CPD sergeant who resigned from the police department in 2012 before he pleaded guilty to extortion. Watts and another former CPD officer, Kallatt Mohammed, were accused of stealing money during an FBI sting operation.
In 2013, Watts was sentenced to 22 months in prison. In a 2021 interview with TRiiBE columnist Bella BAHHS, former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said her office had overturned 114 convictions tied to Watts at the time.
“If I believe that you might be somebody who’s going to hurt me, going to plant drugs or guns on me like Sgt. Watts did in Ida B. Wells [public housing project], if I believe that you are going to hem me up for whatever, because I’ve seen it, when something happens, I’m not calling you. Why would I call you? Why would I invite that into my life?” Foxx told Bella BAHHS. “And even though I see what’s happening around me, I might have a greater trust in the community to take care of this than I do the police, because you have shown yourself over time to not be trustworthy.”
According to an analysis by WTTW, Chicago residents have spent $231.2 million in 2025 to resolve police misconduct lawsuits.
The TRiiBE will write live updates on this page during today’s press conference.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
