In a brief filed Tuesday, the city argued that now-exonerated Ramon Ward's June settlement agreement with the city itself prevents Ward from suing the city. The deal's language instead only allows Ward to come back to court with claims against the two police officers he sued as individual defendants, according to the city.
The city also argued that because of constitutional separation of powers between the judiciary and legislative branches, a federal court cannot require the city to vote on the settlement.
The council has failed to vote on the deal despite the city's law department recommending the matter for a vote, the brief said.
The council instead voted to provide indemnification to two former Detroit police officers involved in Ward's case, Monica Childs and Dale Collins. The city said the indemnification status of the individual police officers was unresolved at the time that a recommendation to settle the case was submitted to the Detroit City Council.
"City Council decided to vote on indemnification rather than to vote on whether to resolve the case," the city said in the brief. "As the separation of powers doctrine prevents this Honorable Court from ordering City Council to vote on whether to approve the settlement, then plaintiff's request for declaratory judgment must be dismissed."
An attorney representing Ward, Shereef H. Akeel, said in an email that the suit is seeking the enforcement of the previously agreed upon settlement with the government.
"We have a deal with the City of Detroit which provided the individual officer defendants binding authority — pursuant to a federal order — to sign a tentative settlement agreement," Akeel said. "We are simply seeking its enforcement."
A spokesperson for the City Council and the city of Detroit did not respond to a request for comment.
Ward filed his civil rights lawsuit against Wayne County, Michigan, in 2021 after spending nearly 25 years in prison for a double homicide he did not commit. The county and Ward reached an $8 million deal this year, subject to the Detroit City Council's approval, the brief said.
Ward filed his second lawsuit in November, claiming the city had violated the settlement agreement by failing to approve the deal. He requested that a federal judge order the council to take up the matter.
The lawsuit claims the council was initially set to approve the settlement, though the item was removed from the agenda prior to the council's June meeting after a city attorney notified the body that negotiations with Ward "fell through." Ward claims the deal had not fallen through and instead is still pending council approval.
The city government said that because some of Ward's claims against the state government were resolved through the Michigan Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, he is now barred from bringing any additional claims against the state, and that the city itself should be shielded by this provision.
WICA, passed by the Michigan Legislature in 2016, provides up to $50,000 for each year a person was wrongfully incarcerated in the state. The city said that as part of the settlement under the program, Ward accepted over $1.2 million from state officials for his wrongful incarceration.
The city's brief claims that because Detroit is a "political subdivision" of the state government, it is protected under the language of WICA, and the current lawsuit against the city requiring it to take up the vote must be tossed.
The city also said the enforcement of a settlement agreement is a job for the state courts, and that because Ward had not provided a specific case that would grant a federal judge jurisdiction to grant the relief, the case against the city should be dismissed.
Ward is represented by Shereef H. Akeel and Daniel W. Cermak of Akeel & Valentine PLC.
The government is represented by Krystal A. Crittendon of the Detroit City Law Department.
The case is Ward v. City of Detroit, case number 2:25-cv-13561, before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
--Editing by Haylee Pearl.
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