So what happens when a Civil suit was settled unfairly

[samjones]

Just a question....

I never thought about it much before, but 2 stories in the news on the same day got me thinking.

1. The family of Eton Patz won a civil suit against an imprisoned sex offender. The suit would be vacated if the confession of another man holds up, but what if money had already been paid? Would the money have to be returned? Would there need to be another civil suit?

2. A girl accuses Brian Banks of raping her on school grounds. The minor's mother sues the school system for providing inadequate security. They settle for a 7 figure number. 5 years later the girl recants and says she was never raped. What happens next with the money? DOes the school system have standing to sue? For what?

 

[William Joyce]

It's a good legal question.

I guess the aggrieved party -- the wrongfully-sued party -- could file a new suit on some grounds seeking the money back. Not sure of the grounds, maybe just a "prima facie tort" alleging wrongful recovery. Or you could just make a motion to vacate the judgment and for return of the money.

 

[KissMy]

I am guessing Counter-Suit or Counter-Claim. I would even sue the Lawyers for Legal malpractice.

 

[waltky]

Former suspect to be called as witness in Etan Patz murder case...
:confusion:
Patz case defense wants earlier suspect as witness
Oct 25,`13 -- The man charged with killing a 6-year-old boy who disappeared in 1979 is securing an unusual witness in his defense: a convicted Pennsylvania child molester who was long the prime suspect.

A Pennsylvania judge on Friday ordered now-jailed Jose Antonio Ramos to appear at Pedro Hernandez' murder trial next year in the death of Etan Patz, The Citizens' Voice of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., reported. A civil court years ago declared Ramos responsible for the boy's death, though he has denied involvement. Friday's developments raise the prospect of Ramos taking a witness stand for the first time to answer questions about one of the nation's most infamous missing-child cases. "The jury should know that there's someone out there with a lot more evidence against him than my client," Hernandez' lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, said by phone Friday.

The Manhattan district attorney's office, which is prosecuting Hernandez, had no immediate comment on Friday's developments in a court in Luzerne County, Pa. Ramos is currently jailed there on a charge of violating sex-offender-registration requirements. Ramos' attorney, Tom Marsilio, said his client has little to offer for Hernandez' trial, The Citizens' Voice reported. He told the newspaper he had declined a request from Hernandez' attorney to speak to Ramos. Ramos repeatedly said "no comment" to a reporter's questions while being led in and out of court, the newspaper reported.

Convicted child molester Jose Antonio Ramos, left, and Pedro Hernandez, right, who is accused of abducting and killing six-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 are shown. A Pennsylvania judge on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013 ordered now-jailed Ramos to appear at Pedro Hernandez trial in 2014, The Citizens' Voice of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., reported. Ramos was long the prime suspect in Patz's disappearance.

Etan disappeared while walking to his school bus stop on May 25, 1979. He was one of the first vanished youngsters featured on a milk carton, and his case helped mobilize a nationwide missing-children's movement. Hernandez, of Maple Shade, N.J., worked as a stock clerk at a store in Etan's neighborhood when the boy disappeared. Police said a tipster led them to Hernandez in spring 2012, and he then confessed to luring Etan into the store basement with the promise of a soda, choking him to death and leaving his body in a bag of trash about a block away. The body has never been found.

Fishbein has said Hernandez is mentally ill and made a false confession. Hernandez, 52, has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for April. For more than a decade before Hernandez' arrest, investigators eyed Ramos, who had been dating Etan's baby sitter. In 2000, authorities even dug up Ramos' former basement in lower Manhattan, but nothing turned up. Ramos was never criminally charged in Etan's death. But after Etan's parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, a 2004 civil court ruling held Ramos responsible for the boy's death. The decision was made largely because Ramos didn't entirely cooperate with questioning.

MORE