Town Expects Insurance Will Help Cover $14.9M Wrongful Incarceration Settlement

A Massachusetts town has agreed to pay $14.9 million to a citizen who spent 36 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Town officials in Braintree said they hope to recover much of that payment from its insurers.

Frederick Weichel sued the town in 2020, alleging injuries stemming from his wrongful arrest, imprisonment, and conviction for the 1980 murder of Robert LaMonica in Braintree. In 2010, new information was discovered in the case which led to Weichel’s release from prison and exoneration in 2017.

Weichel sued both the state and Braintree. In a 2022 trial with the state, the jury awarded Weichel $33 million. However, his recovery in that proceeding was limited to $1 million by a law that protects the Commonwealth from liability exceeding $1 million.

Municipalities do not have the same legal protection from liability exceeding $1 million as the state has.

Braintree Mayor Erin V. Joyce said she believes the town reached a “sensible settlement” with Weichel. She said the town was aware of jury verdicts around the country in cases of this nature that have resulted in substantially larger damage awards. Joyce said she consulted with legal advisers as well as the Town Council before engaging in the mediation process that resulted in the $14.9 million settlement.

“There are no winners with this case. Mr. Weichel spent 36 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He missed out on the opportunity to have a family, to travel, or to enjoy all the normal experiences of life we take for granted,” said Joyce. “Mr. Weichel was found innocent and wants to rebuild his life.”

The town expects insurance to absorb much of the cost.

“To control the impact on our own financial stability going forward, we are aggressively pursuing insurance coverage collections with the help of our legal team, and we anticipate recovering a meaningful portion of this settlement,” the mayor stated.

Joyce said she will be working in coming weeks with the Town Council, bond counsel, financial and legal professionals to assess how best to finance the payment in connection with ongoing insurance recovery efforts.

Council President Charles B. Ryan commended Joyce for her efforts to secure coverage from the insurers. He also vowed to join her in advocating for tort reform that will provide a liability cap for municipalities like the one that the Commonwealth provides for itself.

In 2023, the city of Lowell paid $13 million to a man who spent 32 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of setting a fire that killed eight people.

Elsewhere in the country, an Oklahoma city paid more than $7 million to a former death row inmate who was exonerated after nearly 50 years in prison; a federal jury ordered the city of Naperville, Illinois to pay $22.5 million in damages for the wrongful conviction of a man accused of arson and murder; and another federal jury awarded $50 million in damages to a suburban Chicago man who was exonerated in a murder and released after spending about 10 years behind bars.