City settles suit against officers for $675,000

By David Hohendorf

The City of Birmingham has settled, for $675,000, a federal court lawsuit involving a local resident who claimed that in July of 2021 police officers violated his constitutional rights by using excessive force upon unlawfully entering his home as five of them responded to a report of an alleged domestic dispute disturbance.

Brayton James Groth filed suit in federal court claiming that officers entered his home illegally and once inside used excessive force that included repeated use of a taser. The domestic disturbance involved the wife of Groth who had left the home and shared with a passerby what had transpired in the house. The passerby phoned the police.

Originally the lawsuit named the City of Birmingham and five officers from the police department. As the lawsuit dragged on for years, two of the officers were dropped from the lawsuit after a judge ruled that they were excused because of qualified immunity. An effort to have the remaining three officers -- Nicholas Hill, Scott McIntyre and Raymon Faes – granted qualified immunity failed to garner approval from the district court judge and from three federal circuit court judges who heard an appeal this March of the district court decision.

Birmingham City Manager Jana Ecker said this week that the lawsuit had been handled by the city’s insurance company which decided to settle with Groth. Ecker labeled the company’s decision to settle as “purely a business decision." Ecker added that the settlement did not include any statement or suggestion of culpability on the part of the officers or city.

When questioned as to whether the three officers part of the final stages of the lawsuit were still employed on the city police force, she responded that they were no longer employed by the city but none of them lost their jobs due to the lawsuit. One of the three had retired from the force and a second officer was hired by another police department.