$2.995 Million Settlement for Philando Castile's Mother Days After Officer's Acquittal
After trial: Final settlement paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, the City of St. Anthony's insurer, subject to state court approval.
Won by Robins Kaplan LLP.
Philando Castile told a St. Anthony officer he was carrying a licensed firearm and was shot seconds later during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. After the officer's acquittal, his mother settled the family's wrongful death claims for $2.995 million without ever filing a federal lawsuit.
What happened
Philando Castile was 32 years old and worked as a cafeteria supervisor at the J.J. Hill Montessori school in St. Paul, where he knew the children by name. On the evening of July 6, 2016, St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez pulled him over on Larpenteur Avenue in Falcon Heights. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, was in the passenger seat, and her four-year-old daughter was in the back.
Castile told Yanez that he had a firearm and a permit to carry it. Seconds later Yanez shot him several times at close range. Castile died. Reynolds streamed the aftermath live on Facebook from the passenger seat, and the video reached millions of people within hours.
Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of reckless discharge of a firearm. On June 16, 2017, after five days of deliberation, a Ramsey County jury acquitted him of all three counts. Protests followed across the Twin Cities.
Valerie Castile, Philando's mother, brought the family's wrongful death claim as trustee for his next of kin. She was represented by Robert Bennett, then of Gaskins Bennett Birrell in Minneapolis, together with Atlanta attorney Glenda Hatchett. Bennett moved his civil rights practice to Robins Kaplan in January 2020, after the Gaskins firm dissolved when its founding partner retired.
On June 26, 2017, ten days after the acquittal, the parties announced a settlement of $2.995 million, paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, which carried the City of St. Anthony's coverage. The agreement resolved the claims without a federal lawsuit ever being filed and was subject to state court approval. Bennett said the aim was to move quickly rather than let the case stretch out in federal court, a process he said would exacerbate and reopen terrible wounds.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.NPR, June 26, 2017: Valerie Castile reaches the $2.995 million settlement over the police shooting of her son·Archived copy
- 2.Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, June 16, 2017·Archived copy
- 3.Houston Public Media / NPR, June 26, 2017·Archived copy
- 4.CNN, Nov. 29, 2017: Diamond Reynolds settles her separate claims with St. Anthony and Roseville for $800,000·Archived copy
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