OCEAN CITY — A federal judge has ruled a new trial is not warranted in an excessive force and brutality civil suit filed by a Severn man against an Ocean City police office, asserting the plaintiff’s claim for punitive damages for future lost wages did not pass muster.
In March 2013, Branden Thomas, then 26, of Severn, filed suit in U.S. District Court against Ocean City Police Pfc. Ryan Flanagan accusing the officer of an unprovoked attack on him outside a midtown nightclub in August 2012. The suit sought an undisclosed amount of damages to be determined at trial on several charges against the officer including assault and battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and violations of his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights to freedom from seizure.
After a three-day jury trial last September, Flanagan was found liable on all claims and Thomas was awarded $45,000 in compensatory damages, but denied any punitive damages. Thomas promptly filed an appeal and asked for a new trial, seeking punitive damages. While the $45,000 award included compensation for Thomas’s lost wages following the incident, it did not include any compensation for lost future wages.
Thomas worked for a security company and initially earned $23 per hour. After six months with the company, his clearance level was raised and his pay rate increased to $29 per hour. Prior to the incident in Ocean City in August 2012, he was in line for another security clearance upgrade that would have increased his salary to $40 per hour.
However, following the incident in 2012 during which Flanagan was ultimately found liable for the assault and false imprisonment counts among others, Thomas was also arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct. Thomas claimed that false arrest prevented him from gaining the higher security clearance that would have taken his pay rate to $40 per hour and it ultimately cost him his job with the company. He later took a lower level security job with a different company at $24 per hour.
Consequently, Thomas filed a motion for a new trial, asserting his false arrest in Ocean City cost him the opportunity for the higher security clearance and the $40 per hour pay rate. However, a federal court judge late last month ruled the evidence was insufficient to prove his arrest in Ocean City presented roadblocks for his future promotions and earning and denied the motion for a new trial.
“No hearing is necessary,” the opinion reads. “For the following reasons, the motion for a new trial will be denied and the motion for attorney’s fees will be granted.”
According to the complaint, Thomas, and two other companions were leaving Seacrets on August 16, 2012 and were walking through the parking lot en route to their hotel when they came upon a scene of Ocean City Police officers arresting a man for assaulting a female. The female was injured and was bleeding from the nose when Thomas and his companions asked what had happened.
Thomas and his companions were informed the female victim had been assaulted by the male and suspect was being arrested. Thomas and his friends expressed some verbal disdain as they continued walking about the assault on the female and subsequent arrest of the suspect when Flanagan allegedly told them to “shut up or be arrested.”
According to the complaint, Thomas and his group continued to walk when Flanagan yelled for them to stop. Flanagan then closed the distance between he and Thomas and allegedly struck Thomas in the back left side of his head, near his neck, with a closed fist. Flanagan then pushed Thomas, causing him to fall to the ground and strike his head on the concrete.
Again, the jury found Flanagan liable on all of the charges against him in the civil suit and awarded Thomas $45,000 in compensatory damages. However, no punitive damages were sought during the original trial nor were any awarded. Thomas then sought a new trial seeking punitive damages for his lost future wages, but the federal judge last month ruled against the motion for a new trial.
“Thomas presented no evidence on future lost wages other than his general testimony that security guards with the highest clearance can earn up to $40 per hour and testimony that Thomas will face future obstacles in obtaining favorable clearance,” the opinion reads. “That Thomas’s upward mobility may be curtailed does not mandate an award of future lost damages.”
In denying Thomas’s bid for a new trial in the case, the judge essentially denied another attempt at a larger settlement from the town of Ocean City.
“Furthermore, although the court instructed the jury on punitive damages, Thomas never argued punitive damages to the jury,” the opinion reads. “Thomas’s failure to properly argue his case does not necessitate a new trial and a ‘second bite at the apple’.”
However, the judge did grant Thomas’s motion for attorney fees in the case totaling over $91,000.