Trial Magazine

Crystal Holmes lived next door to Rosalina Harris, a detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Holmes and Harris had a long-running dispute regarding the Harris family’s use of Holmes’s driveway without her permission. Holmes also had sought a restraining order against Harris’s husband due to his alleged ongoing harassment.

Holmes then was arrested for allegedly attempting to hit Harris’s adult daughter with a car. After the district attorney watched a video captured by Holmes’s security cameras, the trial judge granted Holmes’s motion for a judgment of factual innocence.

Holmes sued Harris, alleging violation of her Fourth Amendment right to be free from an unreasonable arrest without probable cause. The plaintiff asserted that Harris used her position and influence with her colleagues to retaliate against Holmes for seeking the restraining order.

The jury awarded Holmes more than $2.26 million, including $1.5 million in punitive damages.

Citation: Holmes v. Harris, No. 2:18-CV-3739-PSG (C.D. Cal. July 2, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: Caleb Mason and Scott Menger, both of Los Angeles.