The Feinstein Case |
Valley Couple Gets $1.8M In Settlement Over Raid (CBS) LOS ANGELES A Sherman Oaks couple reached a $1.8
million settlement stemming from a raid that Glendale police made on their
home with information from an organization of insurance companies, their
lawyer said Monday. Although Glendale police seized vehicles, jewelry and money during the February 2001 raid, no evidence was found to support insurance fraud allegations against Rouhel Feinstein and he was eventually exonerated, according to his lawyer, Howard Price. The settlement was reached in February in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and became final last month, Price said. The National Insurance Crime Bureau paid out $1,075,000 and the city of Glendale $750,000, Price said. The bureau is a nationwide organization created and funded by insurance companies. Their members investigate insurance fraud and help local police in the gathering evidence of such crimes. Neither William DelHagen, the attorney for the insurance companies, nor Glendale City Attorney Carmen Merino could be immediately reached for comment. According to Price, much of the information Glendale police received before making the raid on Feinstein's home came from an agent for the National Insurance Crime Bureau. He was working with a Glendale police sergeant in a joint task force investigating auto insurance fraud, Price said. Although the insurance bureau was a private entity, a judge made an unusual decision to declare it a "state actor" in the case because its agent was working so closely with the police, Price said. The finding was a requirement for Feinstein and his wife, Marilyn Slome, to sue for civil rights violations, Price said. On the day of the police raid, Slome was arrested while walking her dog, Price said. A criminal complaint was filed by the District Attorney's Office against Feinstein two years after the raid, but a judge dismissed the charges after finding that probable cause for the search warrant was lacking, Price said. |