Opinion ID: 443256
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: conspiracy claims of dolphus bell and the siblings

Text: 239 The jury also awarded damages based upon the defendants' conspiracy to cover up the truth about Daniel Bell's death. The trial court, based upon the overwhelming evidence implicating Grady and non-defendant Krause, ruled that they conspired to cover up the true facts of the shooting and killing of Daniel Bell. The remainder of the conspiracy issues were submitted to the jury which found that Grady and Krause were joined in the conspiracy by defendants Milwaukee Chief of Police Howard Johnson and Detective Sergeant Edwin Shaffer, and by non-defendants Inspector of Detectives Rudolph Glaser, Lieutenant of Detectives Leo Woelfel, and Milwaukee County District Attorney William McCauley. The jury found that the conspiracy deprived plaintiffs of due process of law and of racial equality, and that race was an operative factor. 61 The jury awarded $75,000 damages against the defendants in favor of the estate of Dolphus Bell for deprivation of due process and $150,000 for deprivation of racial equality, and awarded the brothers and sister a total of $240,000 for deprivation of due process and $300,000 for deprivation of racial equality. In addition, the jury assessed the amount of punitive damages appropriate to each conspirator: Grady ($25,000), Johnson ($150,000), Shaffer ($350,000), Woelfel ($75,000), and Glaser ($100,000). 62 The district court did not include Krause's or McCauley's name in the special verdict question on punitive damages. 63 240 On several grounds the defendants attack the conspiracy finding and the damage awards based on the conspiracy. Unlike the issues arising from the killing, there is no analogous state law in dispute. Most fundamentally, defendants argue that the conduct of the defendants did not amount to a conspiracy which deprived Bell family members of any constitutional rights protected under the civil rights statutes. Though defendants concede that Grady and Krause distorted the facts surrounding the shooting of Bell, they also challenge the sufficiency of the evidence linking co-defendants Johnson and Shaffer to Grady's and Krause's efforts to conceal the truth. In addition, the defendants contend that the compensatory damages awards for these alleged deprivations were not supported by evidence of actual injury, and further that separate damages for deprivations of due process and racial equality are redundant. They also argue that the punitive damage awards were excessive and not based upon competent evidence. 241 As an introductory matter, to sustain their causes of action for the conspiracy under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1983, 1985(2) and 1985(3), plaintiffs must show that (1) a conspiracy existed and that (2) the conspiracy deprived them of rights protected by federal law. Regarding (1), the essence of plaintiffs' conspiracy claim is that defendants Grady, Johnson, and Shaffer (along with the non-defendants) concealed and distorted key facts surrounding the shooting and killing of Daniel Bell. Regarding (2), plaintiffs argue that the conspiracy to distort and conceal the facts denied the Bell family equal protection of the laws and interfered with their due process right to pursue their claims against Grady. They contend they are entitled to recover for damages resulting from these violations, which were motivated by invidious racial discrimination, on the basis of Sections 1985(2) and (3) (conspiracy to deprive constitutional rights), 1981 (interference with right to sue and give evidence), 1983 (deprivation of constitutional rights under color of state law), and 1986 (neglect to prevent Section 1985 conspiracy). 242 With respect to the Bell family's claims against Grady for the shooting, regardless of what a hypothetical court would have held in 1958, we have held above that Daniel Bell's father possessed a valid claim under Section 1983 for the destruction of his parent-child relationship with Daniel. The same facts about Daniel's death gave Dolphus Bell a claim under state law for Daniel's wrongful death, at least for loss of society and companionship allowed under Wisconsin law and for funeral expenses incurred. Of course, Dolphus Bell did file a wrongful death action in state court. But as previously discussed, the defendants' concealment of the truth precludes the application of res judicata and the statute of limitations. 243 As we discuss infra, the impact of the conspiracy, if sustainable upon the rights of Daniel Bell's siblings presents a more difficult issue. We have already held that they may not recover for loss of society and companionship under Section 1983. Moreover, even if they had possessed full knowledge of the facts surrounding the shooting, Wisconsin tort law does not give them a right to recover absent proof of pecuniary injury.
244 It must first be determined whether plaintiffs adduced sufficient evidence to establish a conspiracy to conceal the facts and to establish that Johnson and Shaffer were members of the alleged conspiracy. 64 As this Court outlined in Hampton v. Hanrahan, 600 F.2d 600 (7th Cir.1979), reversed in part on other grounds, 446 U.S. 754, 100 S.Ct. 1987, 64 L.Ed.2d 670: 245 A civil conspiracy is a combination of two or more persons acting in concert to commit an unlawful act, or to commit a lawful act by unlawful means, the principal element of which is an agreement between the parties 'to inflict a wrong against or injury upon another,' and 'an overt act that results in damage.'  Rotermund v. United States Steel Corp., 474 F.2d 1139 (8th Cir.1973) (citation omitted). 246