A City Council committee on Monday advanced a $90 million deal to settle nearly 200 police misconduct lawsuits tied to a corrupt former police sergeant accused of framing hundreds of people on drug charges.

City attorneys told the Finance Committee that taking those lawsuits to trial would have cost the city far more – up to $500 million – to resolve the avalanche of wrongful conviction cases tied to former Sgt. Ronald Watts.

The committee swiftly gave the deal unanimous approval on Monday after alderpersons praised the city's legal team for the first-of-its-kind deal to settle all remaining lawsuits tied to Watts.

Ald. Bill Conway noted it was "almost 100% assured" the city would have lost every lawsuit in court, given judges have already determined nearly every plaintiff was innocent of the charges Watts and officers under his command brought against them.

"I almost think not enough is being made about what a staggeringly good outcome this is for the taxpayers of the city of Chicago," said Ald. Bill Conway (34th). "We have to right the wrongs of the past while trying to make sure we have a fiscally responsible future for the taxpayers."

The deal will close out 176 lawsuits involving 180 wrongfully convicted people, nearly all of whom have received certificates of innocence from the courts. City lawyers said the plaintiffs spent nearly 200 years behind bars combined before they were vindicated.

In addition to the proposed $90 million settlement, the city already has spent $25 million on private attorneys, expert witnesses, and other costs to defend Watts against the deluge of lawsuits, and another $11.8 million in prior settlements, bringing the total cost to settle wrongful conviction lawsuits tied to Watts to $126.8 million.

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who frequently votes against settlements in lawsuits accusing police officers of misconduct, was among several alderpersons who said they were bracing for the city to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars to put the Watts-related lawsuits to bed.

"I'm glad to see that this is coming to fruition," Lopez said. "This is way less than what we were all planning for."

Watts resigned from the force before pleading guilty in 2012 to stealing from a homeless man who posed as a drug dealer as part of an undercover FBI sting. He admitted to regularly extorting money from drug dealers, and was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2021. He has been accused of frequently planting evidence and fabricating charges.

Dozens of men and women have said Watts and his team terrorized them in or near the former Ida B. Wells housing project in Bronzeville between 2003 and 2008. Watts and his officers have been accused of planting drugs on suspects and falsifying police reports.

Prosecutors have said Watts and the officers under his command time and again planted evidence and fabricated charges in order to further their own gun and drug trade.

In some cases, Watts' victims refused to pay him money or did something that angered him; in others, there appears to be no reason for why he targeted them.

The lawsuits also involve conduct by former officer Kallatt Mohammed who was federally indicted along with Watts following a joint investigation by CPD internal Affairs and the FBI. Both pled guilty and served time in federal prison.

The cases date back decades, and those wrongfully convicted had their cases thrown out by former Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, leading to a flood of lawsuits for civil rights violations.

More than 200 convictions in cases tied to Watts and the officers under his command have been thrown out since his arrest, with approximately 190 people exonerated.

Settlements for each individual plaintiff in cases tied to Watts will be based largely on how much time they spent behind bars before they were cleared of charges involving Watts and officers under his command.

The $90 million in settlements will be paid in two installments in 2026, giving city officials several months to determine how to budget for the cost, given that the city has already blown far past the $90 million it budgeted for legal settlements this year.

While the global settlement in the Watts cases will close out approximately 64% of all existing wrongful conviction lawsuits against the city, the city still faces dozens of other open police misconduct lawsuits.

The $90 million deal now goes to the full City Council for a final vote later this month, with its passage all but assured given the Finance Committee's unanimous support.

The city's top attorney, Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry, suggested the city's Law Department could take a similar global settlement approach to resolve other wrongful conviction cases.

"What we learned in this process, we will carry that forward and apply it," she said. "You can rest assured, we will take what we've learned and look for those opportunities going forward."

While Richardson-Lowry declined to discuss any specific other lawsuits the city might seek to settle in a similar manner, the city faces dozens of wrongful conviction lawsuits tied to two other notoriously corrupt former police officers – former CPD Cmdr. Jon Burge and former CPD Det. Reynaldo Guevara.

O'Shea

"dark stain on the history of our Chicago Police Department"

"This settlement is a gift, and I think it's important to note how lucky we all are in this room

Vasquez