Memphis fined on police-abuse filing

MEMPHIS — A federal appeals court has sanctioned Memphis for filing a frivolous appeal as it tried to get a police-brutality lawsuit dismissed.

The Commercial Appeal reported that the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling released Monday that it was sanctioning the city and a city patrolman $1,500 each in police-brutality allegations filed by two former University of Memphis football players beaten near Beale Street in 2011.

“Because these appeals were so clearly futile and apparently prosecuted for improper purposes, we conclude that sanctions are warranted,” the court said. “These sanctions are to offset some of the plaintiffs’ appellate attorney’s fees and costs, to compensate the plaintiffs, in part, for defending this frivolous appeal.”

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