$10K offer rejected in federal stun gun lawsuit

Purdue University graduate student Oyindamola Oluwatimi, who’s suing West Lafayette police in federal court, rejected an offer last month of $10,001, plus reasonable legal fees.

His attorney, Scott Barnhart, publicly filed with the court a copy of the rejected offer, which had been sent to him privately via email.

The move elicited harsh words from opposing counsel.

Kenneth Collier-Magar, who represents the city and its four officers named in the suit, responded by accusing Barnhart of converting the private email into a public record in an “undoubtedly grandstand ploy” to publish the rejected offer on his promotional website.

Barnhart contends that he provided the court with a copy of the offer because it constitutes “the best evidence available” for deciding the matter at hand.

Barnhart asked the judge to strike or otherwise invalidate the city’s offer due to its “broad and vague provision” requiring that it remain confidential and that damages be liquidated if the plaintiff or his attorney failed to keep mum.

But the confidentiality clause would be impossible to follow because the law requires that the offer be filed publicly with the court, Barnhart argued.

Furthermore, it’s necessary to invalidate the offer by court order, rather than merely reject it, because declining an offer made under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure at play is a binding decision with adverse ramifications for his client, he argued.

Collier-Magar argued that the court should deny Barnhart’s request because the offer was properly drafted, tendered and rejected.

Barnhart argued that the document was drafted to restrain his client’s First Amendment rights — the very rights which Oluwatimi’s lawsuit accuses West Lafayette police of violating nearly two years ago.

Oluwatimi was recording cellphone video of officers as they arrested two men at Chauncey Hill Mall shortly after 3 a.m. Oct. 11, 2013, when he himself was confronted by police, jolted with a stun gun and arrested on allegations of public intoxication, resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer.

After unsuccessfully seeking legal assistance from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Oluwatimi hired Barnhart to file suit against the police department, alleging excessive force, unlawful arrest and a violation of his First Amendment right to record public officials at work.

City officials denied the allegations in March, arguing that Oluwatimi was arrested for striking an officer after being asked repeatedly to step back and that a stun gun was used twice because Oluwatimi resisted arrest.

A judge had yet to rule on Barnhart’s motion as of Sunday afternoon, and trial is tentatively scheduled for April, according to court records.