Korryn Gaines Case: Judge Overturns More Than $36M Payout

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — A Baltimore County judge has reversed a decision to award a family more than $36 million following a deadly police-involved shooting. The ruling came almost a year after a jury decided on the multi-million-dollar payout to the family that filed a civil suit in the death of Korryn Gaines.

On appeal, Judge Mickey J. Norman dismissed the complaint against the Baltimore County Police Department and against Officer Royce Ruby; remitted the jury's more than $36-million award, which he said was "excessive and shocks the conscience"; vacated a $7,000 payout for funeral expenses; and ordered that if the family appeals, there should be a new trial, because there was a defective verdict.

Gaines died on Aug. 1, 2016, after engaging in a standoff with police that lasted about six hours in her apartment in Randallstown. The 23-year-old had barricaded herself inside her residence in the unit block of Sulky Court with a shotgun after officers showed up around 9 a.m. to serve arrest warrants for her and her boyfriend.

Gaines was wanted for failing to appear related to a March 10 traffic stop when her Toyota Camry had no license plate. Her boyfriend had a warrant for an assault on Gaines, and police later charged him with distributing heroin from the apartment.

The confrontation ended around 3 p.m. after Gaines took cover in the kitchen and raised her shotgun, court documents said.

Authorities said there was an exchange of gunfire; Gaines fired two rounds from the shotgun, but did not strike police. One round hit the dining room wall, according to court filings.

Officer Ruby shot and killed Gaines, and a bullet ricocheted and grazed the cheek of her son — Kodi Gaines, who was 5 at the time — court documents say.

On Feb. 16, 2018, a jury found Ruby did not act reasonably in the situation.

Overturning the verdict on Feb. 14, 2019, Norman ruled that the officer who shot Gaines was entitled to qualified immunity because he made decisions based on information he had at the time that deemed his action objectively reasonable, according to court filings obtained by Fox 45. Gaines had been resisting arrest while holding a shotgun, had taken cover in the kitchen and raised her weapon after hours of being in one spot in the apartment, had stopped taking her medication for mental illness about a year before and had not allowed officers to rescue her child from danger, the judge determined.

Ruby of the Baltimore County Police Department did not violate the Fourth Amendment rights of Gaines, Norman wrote in his decision, because Gaines resisted a lawful arrest.

The judge also vacated a jury's finding that Ruby was guilty of battery.

"This court has ruled that the shooting of Gaines, though tragic, was not unlawful and therefore, the jury's finding of battery on Gaines is vacated," Norman wrote. Because the injury to Kodi Gaines was an unforeseen consequence of a lawful act by the police officer, he said, the jury's finding that Ruby committed battery with respect to the child was also vacated.

Finally, the judge said that the jury did not clearly establish the apportionment of the payouts in the multi-million-dollar award — that is, jurors did not specify which money was connected to which damages. The information is essential because there is a cap on the amount that can result from state charges, as opposed to federal charges. The jury found Ruby guilty of the state charge of battery and the federal charge of violating Gaines' Fourth Amendment right.

The jurors' verdicts were "defective because the jury did not specify the apportionment, if any, of the total jury award between the state and federal claims," Norman wrote. "For the court to attempt to ascertain what the jury intended would be mere speculation," and as a result, "the defendants are entitled to a new trial."

Norman also set aside the $7,000 granted to Rhonda Dormeus, mother of Gaines, for funeral expenses, in part because the "only evidence that Dormeus paid the funeral expenses was her testimony," he wrote in his opinion. He also cited a case that indicates such claims would go through the Orphans Court and not be disputed at a trial.

Overall, Norman ordered that the payments to the Gaines family be remitted, or canceled.

Wrote the judge: "This court finds that the non-economic damages awarded to the various plaintiffs are excessive and shocks the conscience."

Members of the family told WBAL they plan to appeal the ruling.

• Gaines Family To Receive More Than $36 Million In Damages: Report
• Korryn Gaines Lawsuit Grows, Allegations Added: Report
• Officer Was Justified in Shooting Korryn Gaines: Baltimore County State's Attorney
• Family of Korryn Gaines Files $4M Suit After Fatal Shooting in Baltimore County
• No Charges to Be Filed Against Officer Who Killed Korryn Gaines: Report
• Police ID Officer Who Shot Korryn Gaines
• Boyfriend of Korryn Gaines Facing Drugs and Weapons Charges
• Woman Killed by Police Said They Would Have to 'Murder' Her
• 5-Year-Old Was Injured by Police in Randallstown Standoff: Officials
• Protesters Arrested at Cop Conference in Baltimore

Photo of Korryn Gaines from Baltimore County Police Department.