The Mayor of a city in New Mexico implemented a "no settlement" policy a few years back. He will settle NO CASE involving police misconduct; they all have to be tried. Even if the plaintiff wins on liability at SJ, the mayor will force trial on damages. Federal judges don't like it, feeling some cases should settle, and they have other cases to try.
There have been about 3 exceptions, e.g., when the cop is prosecuted criminally for the conduct or some other unique circumstance.
Nevertheless, it has kept a lot of lawyers from filing those 2-10,000 dollar cases that you figure you will just settle, leaving injured plaintiffs without meaningful recourse, and allowing brutality to go on unabated.
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