The New York Times covered Rankin & Taylor’s settlement with the City of New York over the arrests of 83 riders during Critical Mass bicycle rides from September, 2004 to January, 2006. An excerpt of the article follows, follow the link to the New York Times website for complete text:
Bike Riders in New York Win Settlement
By CATE DOTY
Published: October 18, 2010
The city agreed on Monday to pay nearly $1 million to participants in the monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides who claimed they had been wrongly detained and arrested by police officers.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2007, represented the claims of 83 riders who had been arrested or ticketed by police during the rides from September 2004 to January 2006. The awards to the plaintiffs range from $500 for those who were cited for minor infractions, to $35,000 for a plaintiff who was arrested multiple times and was injured because of the arrests, said David B. Rankin, one of the three lawyers who represented the riders. About half the settlement will go toward legal fees……
….Mr. Rankin said he thought the settlement was fair, and that the city’s policies toward the riders had changed. “We hope that the cyclists and the N.Y.P.D. can figure out a way to work together,” he said….