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About Robert Bennett
Robert Bennett is a partner in Robins Kaplan's Civil Rights and Police Misconduct group. Over the past several decades, he has represented clients in civil rights cases, police misconduct matters, police shootings, excessive and deadly force cases, jail and prison suicide cases, inmate abuse and neglect matters, police dog attack cases, taser injury cases, and personal injury matters. His notable cases include Winborn v. Schneider ($12.2 million, jail deliberate indifference/amputations), Pope v. Chauvin ($7.5 million, excessive force), Ruszczyk v. Noor ($20 million, police shooting wrongful death).
Castile v. Village of St. Anthony ($2.99+ million, police shooting), Olthoff v. Warnygora ($6.2 million, wrongful shooting/paralysis), and Taylor v. Minneapolis Golf Club ($8+ million, pool drain wrongful death). He was inducted into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame in 2025, has been named a Minnesota Super Lawyer from 1994 and 1996-1998 and 2000-2026, has been listed in Best Lawyers in America 2023-2027, was named Attorney of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer in 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017, and received the National Law Journal's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.
Proven verdicts and settlements
Justine Ruszczyk Damond called 911 to report a woman screaming behind her house, then walked out in her pajamas to meet the squad car. Officer Mohamed Noor shot her from the passenger seat. Minneapolis settled with her family for $20 million in May 2019, more than four times the largest police payout in the city's history.
Terrance Winborn was booked into the Scott County Jail on a suspected DUI. A bacterial infection went untreated in custody until it caused septic shock, a heart attack and gangrene, and surgeons amputated both of his arms below the elbows. The county and its insurer settled his Section 1983 claim for $12.2 million.
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.
A twelve-year-old girl died while in the care of a residential treatment facility in North Dakota. Her parents' federal civil rights action was dismissed by the district court, reinstated by the Eighth Circuit in 2022, and settled on remand for $2.9 million, reported as the largest known civil rights settlement in the state.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
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