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Jun 30, 2025
The city of Chicago made almost $90 million in legal payouts in 2024, with most of going to cover overturned convictions, the Law Department announced in an annual report Monday.
The report, which updates the public on the city's civil litigation from the previous calendar year, was implemented as part of the 2019 consent decree requiring the Chicago Police Department and other city agencies to add reforms meant to increase public trust and reduce crime.
The city paid $89.2 million in civil litigation resolutions last year, up from $81.4 million in 2023. Of the payouts made, 76 of the cases were settled and 42 were resolved through litigation, the report said.
The city paid more than $48 million for nine wrongful convictions in 2024, accounting for around 53% of the city's total payouts, the report says. Included in the reversed conviction payments was $21 million paid by the city to LaShawn Ezell, Troshawn McCoy, Charles Johnson and Larod Styles for their conviction and collective 73 years in prison for a 1995 double slaying they didn't commit. The four men received a $50 million settlement to share, but $29 million came from the city's catastrophic insurance carrier.
Most convictions were overturned based on misconduct from decades ago, the Law Department said in a news release.
"The majority of these cases reflect events that occurred years, even decades ago," Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry said in the release. "What we're seeing now is the result of deliberate reforms put in place to strengthen accountability and build public trust."
Ten use-of-force cases were also resolved, resulting in more than $9 million in payouts, or around 10% of the total. The payments for alleged use-of-force cases were cut in half by 2024 compared with 2022, the release said.
The Law Department said the overall decline in payouts related to use of force since 2019 is a sign of progress for the city.
"As reforms continue t
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