Kenneth Walker Reaches Settlement with the City of Louisville
Mr. Kenneth Walker III, boyfriend of the late Breonna Taylor, has reached a $2 million settlement with the City of Louisville to resolve lawsuits Mr. Walker filed stemming from the unlawful police raid that led to Ms. Taylor’s death in 2020.
The global settlement resolves the affirmative claims in Mr. Walker’s civil rights lawsuits against the city and its officers. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, including, but not limited to, named Defendants in the lawsuits, agreed to pay the settlement sum in exchange for the dismissal of both the state and federal lawsuits.
Munger, Tolles & Olson, alongside Steven Romines of Romines, Weis & Young PSC, Frederick Moore of Grossman Green PLLC and Cliff Sloan of the Georgetown University Law Center, served as lead counsel to Mr. Walker in his Section 1983 civil rights lawsuit against the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department.
Filed in March 2021, the federal lawsuit sought damages for the fabrication of evidence to obtain a warrant for Ms. Taylor’s residence; the execution of the warrant in violation of the constitutional “knock and announce” requirement; and the use of excessive force against Mr. Walker.
“Although today’s settlement will not bring Ms. Taylor back, it brings us one step closer to ensuring police accountability and advances the national conversation surrounding injustices in our criminal justice system,” said Ruby Garrett, who led and managed the federal case when she was an associate at MTO. “The tragic events that occurred in March 2020 will haunt Mr. Walker for the rest of his life, but he plans to continue honoring Ms. Taylor’s legacy by advocating for justice and speaking about the systemic failures that led up to and followed that fateful night.”
“We will also honor Ms. Taylor’s legacy and Mr. Walker by endowing the ‘Breonna Taylor & Kenneth Walker Civil Rights Scholarship’ for rising third-year law students with a demonstrated interest in practicing civil rights law,” said Ms. Garrett. “In order to normalize police accountability, it is imperative that we support and empower aspiring civil rights practitioners.”
The scholarship will be administered by Ms. JD, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the success of women in law school and the legal profession. Munger, Tolles and Olson has supported Ms. JD’s efforts for several years, including by sponsoring its programmatic efforts, issuing grants to fund its initiatives and supporting Ms. Garrett during her tenure on the Board. The firm is excited to expand its partnership with the organization to include the civil rights scholarship.
The Munger, Tolles & Olson team also included partners Don Verrilli, Jacob Kreilkamp and Robyn Bacon, and associate Brendan Gants.
About Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
Contributing to the community through pro bono work and other forms of volunteerism is a core tenet of the culture at Munger, Tolles & Olson. The firm was one of the charter signatories to the American Bar Association’s pro bono challenge and consistently devotes more than three percent of all attorney time to delivering needed pro bono legal assistance. We are proud to be one of the select group of firms to have received the ABA’s coveted Pro Bono Publico Award.