Al Gerhardstein
In an interview on WCET, the local Cincinnati PBS affiliate, Gerhardstein described how this experience and its effect on his family deeply impressed upon him the plight of powerless individuals in the face of powerful corporations.
The plaintiffs were awarded a record $4.1 million as part of a class action settlement that included sweeping reforms of the practices and procedures at that maximum security prison.
[10] Gerhardstein and fellow attorney Robert Newman had previously sued the state of Ohio for cruel and unusual punishment on behalf of a class of mentally ill prisoners.
After filing the legal action, they worked with the defendant Director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to address the underlying problems.
That collaboration resulted in a court enforced consent decree providing for reforms based on a treatment-oriented approach to mentally ill inmates in all Ohio state prisons.
[11][12] He also filed a class action challenging the level of medical and dental services provided for inmates by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in 2003.
"[18] One month after that action was filed, an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer, sparking riots throughout the city.
[19] Continuing his approach to resolve serious underlying systemic problems, Gerhardstein participated along with city officials, the police union, and citizens in the creation of a collaborative agreement that established wide reaching reforms in the department that has become a model for other jurisdictions.
He has litigated cases and published a white paper seeking policies and training that require officers to avoid chest shots and other tactics that increase the risk of injury.
[32][33] After the Supreme Court's decision in Romer v. Evans, striking down a Colorado law with almost identical language to that in the Cincinnati Charter, the case was remanded to the Sixth Circuit to be considered in light of the new precedent.
[38] Gerhardstein filed suit in federal court seeking an emergency injunction prohibiting the state of Ohio from issuing a death certificate for John that listed the deceased as single and without a surviving spouse.
[44] Ultimately, Gerhardstein and other lawyers whose cases had been consolidated petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a hearing, which was granted.
[45] Gerhardstein observed in a televised interview in April, 2015, that this was a civics lesson for the country that core constitutional principles are not up to the majority to decide.
