In just a little over a year, the nation will vote in the next presidential election.

On Wednesday, Denver finally unwound the last entanglement from its role in the previous contest. It took only 1,140 days.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch on Wednesday agreed to sign off on a settlement agreement that ends a lawsuit brought by people who said they were wrongly arrested amid a protest during the Democratic National Convention, in August 2008. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2009 and came to involve 93 plaintiffs, was the last outstanding piece of litigation against the city for its role in hosting the convention, at which then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama received the Democratic presidential nomination.

All told, even though it took years to tie up the convention’s loose ends, Denver leaders said the process went easier than it could have.

“This is remarkable because other cities who have hosted national political conventions in recent years . . . have experienced an exponentially higher number of claims and payouts than did Denver,” assistant city attorney David Broadwell wrote in a statement.

The lawsuit was initially brought by eight people and stems from the largest mass arrest during the convention. All those arrested were part of a mixed crowd of protesters and onlookers hemmed in by police at 15th and Court streets after a rowdy demonstration spilled out of Civic Center.

The plaintiffs said police never gave an order to disperse before beginning the arrests. They argued the police did not have probable cause to arrest everybody.

The settlement marks one more legacy of the convention for the city.

For instance, the agreement requires the Police Department to make changes in how it handles such mass events in the future. Officers must give a warning for people to leave, give people a way to get out if they choose and have a good reason for arresting those who remain, said Mark Silverstein, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, which represented the plaintiffs.

“I certainly hope that this settlement will send a message that Denver needs to be sure in the future to . . . arrest only those people who they have individualized probable cause to believe violated the law,” Silverstein said.

The agreement also requires a $200,000 payout to the plaintiffs, with most going to the original eight and $20 each going to another 84 people made part of the suit when it was granted class-action status. Another plaintiff reached a separate agreement with the city.

The money will come from an insurance policy Denver purchased before the convention, Broadwell said.

Despite the lawsuit being the city’s last direct connection to the convention, Mike Dino, who headed the convention’s host committee, said it won’t be the most memorable. Dino pointed to Denver’s popular B-cycle bike-sharing program, which got its start with a donation from the host committee. He said recent business relocations to the metro area are another.

“The reputation that Denver gained from that convention is probably one of the most lasting legacies we’re going to have,” Dino said.

John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com