Practice Areas: Civil Rights
Licensed in New Mexico since: 1990
Education: Temple University Beasley School of Law
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2015 - 2024 Details
Joseph Kennedy is a partner at Kennedy Law Firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Joe Kennedy has represented people targeted by police and government abuse for over 25 years.
In 1991, Mr. Kennedy successfully represented a client in his first civil rights trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. Police had unnecessarily unleashed a dog on his war veteran client. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Kennedy’s client in the amount of $250,000 and also included a punitive damage award of $150,000.
In the years since that decision, Mr. Kennedy has continued to secure substantial verdicts in civil rights cases for his clients. Many of these decisions have resulted in significant policy changes and advancement in law. For instance, policy changes include a reduction in the use of dogs to arrest citizens, a change in how the City of Albuquerque targets nuisance properties for takings, a reduction of arrests of school children, and a change in the seizure and forfeiture of money by the state and county.
More recently, Mr. Kennedy and his firm have aggressively litigated many police shooting cases against the City of Albuquerque. The work the law firm has done has led directly to reforms that have reduced the number of police shootings in Albuquerque.
Mr. Kennedy remains committed to recovering fair and just compensation for all his clients.
Practice areas
Civil Rights- 100% Civil Rights
First Admitted: 1985, Pennsylvania
Professional Webpage: http://civilrightslaw.com/team/joseph-p-kennedy/
- Davis v. City of Albuquerque, 01 cv 27 ($120,000.00 wrongful arrest verdict)
- Second Judicial District Court in Gutierrez v. City of Albuquerque, CV 2005-2801
- Layman v. City of Albuquerque, 04 cv 778 ($57,000.00 wrongful arrest verdict)
- Keylon v. Barnard, 04-cv-1303 ($60,000.00 verdict, including $20,000.00 in a punitive damage award, for a wrongful arrest claim)
- Storey v. Taylor, 08 cv 207 ($8,000.00 wrongful detention verdict including $7,000.00 of punitive damages)
- Steagald v. United States, 451 U.S. 204 (1981)
- Goff v. Heatley, 95 cv 1508 ($3,000.00 excessive force verdict)
- Albin v. Bakas, 2007 NMCA, 141 N.M. 742, 160 P.2d 923; cert. denied 162 P.3d, 171, in the New Mexico Court of Appeals
- Spencer v. City of Albuquerque, 02 cv 1235 ($36,000.00 wrongful arrest verdict)
- Lowery v. City of Albuquerque, 09 CV 457
- Roybal v. City of Albuquerque, 04 cv 1326 ($42,000 wrongful entry into home verdict)
- Richard Mora v. Yara, 06 cv 1135 ($1,000.00 wrongful detention verdict)
- Cozart v. City of Albuquerque, 95 CV 1351
- Aragon v. City of Albuquerque, 92 cv 821 ($10,000.00 wrongful arrest verdict)
- Roybal v. City of Albuquerque, 04 cv 1326
- Smith v. City of Albuquerque, 01 cv 416 ($50,000.000 excessive force verdict (dog bite)
- Apodaca v Bernalillo County, CV 2006-10246 (Second Judicial District Court)
- Stone v. Juarez, 05 cv 508 ($1,250 wrongful arrest verdict)
- Sanchez v. Brokop, 04 cv 134 ($3.2 million verdict for a first grader molested by a substitute teacher)
- Keylon v. City of Albuquerque, et al., 535F.3d 1210 (10th Cir. 2008)(judgment entered as a matter of law for arrest without probable cause and denial of qualified immunity defense)
- Betts v. City of Albuquerque, 90 cv 779 ($150,000.00 in punitive damage)
- Gonzales v. City of Albuquerque, 03 cv 1150
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2015 - 2024
