Overview
- Legal Aid tallied 1,044 cases settled in 2025 for $117,251,230.82, with 17 individual payouts topping $1 million.
- Reversed convictions accounted for about $42 million, including $13 million for Eric Smokes and $11.1 million for David Warren, plus large awards such as $5.75 million to Kenneth Bacote and $5.215 million tied to Queens corruption cases.
- The 2025 total marked the fourth consecutive year above $100 million and brings the seven‑year tally since 2019 to roughly $796–800 million.
- A federal monitor recently faulted NYPD supervisors for failing to identify unlawful stops, while the department says many payouts stem from decades‑old cases and cites reforms under Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
- The report arrives as the city faces a $5.4 billion budget gap, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposing a $22 million NYPD cut and the comptroller urging that settlement costs be charged to the police budget; the analysis excludes pre‑suit claims handled by the comptroller.