Denver’s running tab for 2020 protest fallout just got a little steeper.
On Friday, the Denver City Council quietly signed off on a six-figure settlement with a man injured during a 2020 demonstration, adding one more case to a long list of lawsuits tied to the city’s response that summer. The payment was approved as part of routine council business, even as the city’s legal exposure continues to build.
According to 9News, council members approved a six-figure payout to the injured man and acknowledged that settlements tied to the 2020 protests have already reached into the millions. City officials also warned that additional liabilities from pending cases could total “potentially millions more.”
A running tab of payouts
The latest settlement joins several big-ticket resolutions and verdicts stemming from those protests. In August 2023, the council approved about $4.7 million to resolve claims from more than 300 people arrested during the demonstrations, according to CBS News Colorado.
Separately, a federal jury in 2022 awarded $14 million to a dozen protesters. That verdict is currently on appeal, The Colorado Sun reported.
Council members raise budget questions
With each new payout, council members have pressed city staff on how the money is being covered and what it means for other spending priorities. The settlements are paid out of a liability claims pool that is replenished from the city’s general fund, according to The Denver Gazette. District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis has said that the setup warrants a closer look.
Legal implications and what’s next
Local reporting has tallied more than $30 million in police-related settlements and judgments since 2020, according to Denverite, and the meter is still running. The city is also contesting some of the larger verdicts in federal appeals courts, as Axios has noted.
City officials did not immediately release the injured man’s name or the exact settlement figure. Those details typically surface later in public council records and court filings. For Denver residents, the newest deal is another reminder that the legal and financial aftershocks of the summer of 2020 are still rippling through city hall and shaping policy debates.
