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> em A oe, 22 alten snentenntenaeran Te | By Maurice Possley After nearly 13 years of bitter court battles and hard- — ‘ought negotiations, the Black Panther civil rights case is” bout to be settled for $1.85 million, the Sun-Times has earned. anne proposed agreement is one of the highest civil ‘Fights case settlements in federal court history and tops the $700,000 settlement in the 1970 Kent State University case stemming from the slaying of four students by Ohio National Guard troops. } The Panther settlement, which still must be approved by the Cook County Board, calls for a three-way split of the payout. The federal government, the City of Chicago and Cook County each will pay $616,000, it was learned. The County Board is expected to receive a proposal cal- ling for settlement of the suit for approval at ita Nov. 1 meeting. County Board President George W. Dunne said, "EF understand the case is close to settlement. I'm happy for that.” . * One of the longest and most expensive civil lawsuits in federal court history, the Panther case is expected to ome to a close only a month before the 13th anniversary ; of the police raid that sparked it. _ . On Dec. 4, 1969, a squad of police officers, under the Girection of then Cook County State’s Attorney Edward V. Han , conducted a pre-dawn raid on a Panther wpartment at 2337 W. Monroe in a search for weapons. - A shootout ensued, and Panther Jeaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were killed and four of the other seven Occupants of the apartment were wounded. In 1970 a $47.7 million civil rights damage suit was filed pgainst Hanrahan, the raiders, the city and county and the federal government on behalf of the wounded and the family members of the slain Panthers. * 4 ~ t The lawsuit finally came to trial in 1976 before Senior } US. District Judge Joseph Sam Perry. Lawyers G. Flint Taylor, Jeff Haas and James D. Montgomery clashed often with city and county lawyers during the acrimoni- ous 320-day-long trial. The lawyers presented evidence they said showed exis- P57 ELH ET, pee ee Sew Ee 4 2.” eve . . Settlement near in ’69 Pan uA « tence of a conspiracy between the FBI, the Chicago Police’ Department and Hanrahan’s office to murder Hampton. The jury deliberated for three days and announced it was deadlocked. Perry then directed verdicts in favor.of the defendanta. The case was appealed and in April, 1979, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new trial, citing several errors by Perry. The federal government came in* for harsh treatment for turning over volumes of docu- ments to the plaintiffs’ lawyers midway during the trial instead of earlier. In June, 1980, the US. Supreme Court on further appeal voted 5 to 3 in favor of sending the case back to the District Court here for a retrial. . . The case was eventually reassigned to Judge John F. Grady, and negotiations for a settlement have been A Weg Et “thy Sassen Ep eran ener ans . ongoing behind closed doors for more than a year between - ty, and Joseph Witkowski, representing the ‘city. “paid out for legal fees racked up by lawyers for the city Fe ot Srey ed gerne ot tm = ts re ‘Sunday Sun-Times, October 24, 1982, raid:.case Montgomery, Taylor, Haas, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob- ert Gruencberg, Camillo Volini, representing Cook Coun- Ironically, the proposed settlement is less than has been and county. More than $2 million in fees has been shelled . se nat ‘Tet out by taxpayers—including more than $1 million to John”. * P. Coghlan, a veteran criminal lawyer who worked on the case for eight years until.he was fired by the county in Witkowski, who formerly worked for the county and now for the city, and Volini, husband of Ald. Marion Kennedy Volini (48th), have earned thousands of dollars ‘ in legal fees since they became involved in the case. a heed aetae "a + me AR ay Snags th