A Post-Dispatch story in May highlighted how private lawyers from the firm Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O’Keefe billed Ferguson tens of thousands of dollars for prosecuting the cases.

The article also noted that the defendants had all been charged with “failure to comply.” It’s often referred to as a “contempt-of-cop” charge, and one the U.S. Department of Justice has accused Ferguson police of routinely abusing.

The lawsuit, filed on the second anniversary of Brown’s death at the hands of then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, alleges that financial pressures put on Karr and Chassaing by their firm drove their actions.