Nearly $70 Million in settlements; you paid the tab

Digging into Maricopa County's lawsuit settlements since 2010.

In December 2024, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a $6 million payout to settle a lawsuit brought by protesters who were falsely arrested, wrongly charged, and labeled as members of a fictional gang by county prosecutors and Phoenix police officers.

That case — Keisha Acton v. Allister Adel — closed a chapter on one of the most outrageous abuses of power in recent memory. But it wasn’t an isolated incident. It was one of more than a thousand settlements Maricopa County has made over the past 15 years, and just the latest in a pattern that has cost taxpayers nearly $70 million.

These are the receipts. And they only cover the checks actually cut to plaintiffs.

What the nearly $70 million figure doesn’t include are the legal fees, the court-mandated reforms, the external monitors, or the hours of staff time spent litigating and negotiating. In just one case — the federal racial profiling lawsuit known as Melendres v. Arpaio — the county projects spending $314 million by mid-2025 on court-ordered compliance alone.

The settlements span more than a decade, but the names and departments that keep popping up aren’t surprising: the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Correctional Health Services, the Transportation Department, and the County Attorney’s Office. Since 2010, the county has paid out more than 1,097 settlements, with 129 of those exceeding $500,000.

Many of those massive payouts stem from incidents under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who left office in 2017 but left behind a backlog of lawsuits that still haunt the county budget. Arpaio’s approach to policing — marked by immigration sweeps, jail abuse, and political retaliation — made national headlines and set legal records. Some of the most expensive cases include:

• Charles Agster III Death (2001) – $9 Million Settlement

  Charles Agster III, a 33-year-old with developmental disabilities, died after being placed in a restraint chair by sheriff's deputies. The incident raised concerns about the use of force and treatment of vulnerable individuals in custody. The county agreed to a $9 million settlement with Agster's family.

• Scott Norberg Death (1996) – $8.25 Million Settlement

  Scott Norberg died while being restrained by detention officers in a Maricopa County jail. Allegations included excessive force and suffocation during the restraint process. The county settled with Norberg's family for $8.25 million. ​

• Mary Rose Wilcox Lawsuit (2014) – $975,000 Settlement

  Former County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox sued Maricopa County, alleging wrongful prosecution and harassment by Sheriff Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas. The lawsuit claimed retaliatory investigations were conducted against her. The county settled by awarding Wilcox $975,000. ​

• Richard Post Injury (1996) – $800,000 Settlement

  Richard Post, a paraplegic man, suffered a broken neck after being placed in a restraint chair in jail. Post alleged that detention officers used excessive force, leading to his severe injuries. The county settled the case for $800,000. ​

• Brian Crenshaw Death (2003) – $2 Million Settlement

  Brian Crenshaw, a legally blind and mentally disabled inmate, died from injuries sustained in jail, including a broken neck. The lawsuit alleged neglect and abuse by jail staff. Maricopa County agreed to a $2 million settlement with Crenshaw's family.

• Akeem Terrell Death (2021) – $4.05 Million Settlement

  Akeem Terrell died after being restrained in a prone position by Phoenix police and Maricopa County Sheriff's detention officers during a mental health crisis. The family alleged unreasonable force and delayed medical care. The county approved a $4.05 million settlement, with an additional $800,000 settlement from the City of Phoenix. ​

• Bret Frimmel (Uncle Sam's Restaurant) Lawsuit (2021) – $5 Million Settlement

  Bret Frimmel, owner of Uncle Sam's restaurant, sued after his business was raided by Sheriff Arpaio's deputies, alleging defamation and violation of rights. The county settled for $5 million, with $3.1 million covered by the county and the remainder by insurance.

• Qasimyar v. Maricopa County (2015-2021) – Property Tax Refunds

  A class-action lawsuit revealed that Maricopa County had improperly classified certain properties, leading to overtaxation. The settlement required the county to issue significant refunds to affected taxpayers. ​

• Melendres v. Arpaio (2007-Present) – Racial Profiling Case

  A federal court found that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office engaged in racial profiling of Latino motorists. The ongoing compliance and legal costs associated with this case are projected to reach $314 million by mid-2025. ​

While Arpaio left office in 2017, the legal tab didn’t vanish. His successor, Paul Penzone, oversaw the department from 2017 through early 2024. Under Penzone, incidents that occurred during his tenure have already resulted in 112 settlements, costing the county more than $8.1 million. Some stemmed from jail conditions, others from use-of-force cases that mirrored the patterns of the past.

The costs aren’t confined to the Sheriff’s Office. The County Attorney’s Office, now reeling from the 2020 protest scandal, accounts for over $9.7 million in payouts, including the $6 million protester settlement approved last year. Correctional Health, which oversees medical care in jails, tallied another $9.4 million, while the Transportation Department is responsible for more than $6.3 million in settlements.

And now, Joe Arpaio’s former top deputy, Jerry Sheridan, is in charge. Sheridan won the 2024 election and now leads the same Sheriff’s Office that has cost taxpayers more than $41 million in settlements since 2010.

Quick stats:

• Total settlements since 2010: $69.6 million

• Number of cases: 1,097

• Settlements over $500K: 129

• Avg. per case: $63,500

• Avg. over $500K: $1.6 million

Even without legal fees, the county has paid an average of $63,500 per case, and when you isolate the 129 settlements that topped $500,000, the average climbs to nearly $1.6 million.

And if you’re wondering whether these cases are rare events, they’re not. Maricopa County has logged lawsuits — sometimes dozens per year — every single year since 2010. Some years, like 2020, spike dramatically. That year alone, the county shelled out over $12.5 million across multiple departments.

What ties many of these cases together is preventability. Jail deaths. Unnecessary force. Targeted arrests. And nearly all of it followed by an expensive check and little public acknowledgment of what went wrong.

There’s no law requiring the county to summarize these settlements or report them in one place. But they add up. And they’re not just numbers in a spreadsheet—they’re the consequences of choices, often made in the dark, that come back in the light. And at a steep price.