The damages phase of a Section 1983 wrongful conviction case presents challenging issues. This is especially so when the conviction is followed by many years of incarceration. Cataloguing and quantifying the damages can be difficult. “Losses of this magnitude are almost impossible to catalog. The loss of liberty. The loss of the enjoyment of their families. The loss of the ability to care for and nurture their children. The loss of intimacy and closeness with their spouses. The task of quantifying those losses … is among the most difficult courts have to undertake.” See Limone v. United States, 497 F. Supp. 3d 163, 243 (D. Mass. 2007) (Gertner, J.) (Bivens and state law claims), aff’d, 579 F. 3d 79 (1st Cir. 2009).

Courts have generally considered $1 million for each year of wrongful incarceration reasonable compensatory damages. See, e.g., Restivo v. Hessemann, 846 F. 3d 547, 588 (2d Cir. 2017), cert. denied, 138 S. Ct. 144 (2018); Newton v. City of New York, 171 F. Supp. 3d 158, 171-177 (S.D.N.Y. 2018); Limone v. United States, 499 F. Supp. 3d at 243-44. But this is just a rough yardstick. Each plaintiff’s injuries from a wrongful conviction and incarceration are necessarily unique. Consider, for example, John Thompson, whose 18 years in prison included 14 on death row before he was exonerated. Sam Roberts, “John Thompson Cleared After 14 Years on Death Row, Dies at 55,” N.Y.Times Oct 4, 2017. See Connick v. Thompson, 563 U.S. 51 (2011). Although damages cannot truly make a wrongfully convicted person whole, the law does the best it can do through monetary compensation. The financial stakes in these cases are great.

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