9 Trial Lawyer • Summer 2023 resistance by the court. The plaintiff never received any real discovery other than what was available publicly or could be begged from other litigants. The plaintiff tried various strategies including seeking consent from the court for early discovery, issuing third party subpoenas to the United States, attempting to schedule Rule 30(b)(6) depositions with records subpoena. The government lawyers were implacable. To dismiss The final tactical move allowed the plaintiffs after the devastating opinion in Egbert was to dismiss without prejudice and later refile against the United States government in a simple tort action. After all, it was the government that sent in all the federal officers, ordered and authorized the wholly inappropriate and unreasonable uses of force, and was the cause of the injuries received by citizens. The government also failed to document the individual uses of force or even keep track of what each of their officers was doing each night. It was a massive maelstrom of terror and violence that left a number of protestors badly injured. The federal courthouse was badly damaged as were several buildings downtown. It is difficult to assess whether the government visited the destruction on the building, but they did blanket the city with enough tear gas that the smell and effects lingered for some time after the protests ended. Most of the protests started very peacefully with barbeques, music and dancing. As the month progressed the crowd increased to staggering sizes as people who never protested before came out wearing ski goggles and carrying umbrellas. Moms in yellow t-shirts lined up arm-in-arm in front of the courthouse to protect others behind them. Many of those women of varying ages and sizes were shot, gassed and brutally detained by heavily armed officers. The protests had been dwindling after the Portland Police stopped using tear gas — until the federal agents showed up. Folks were showing up to protest police brutality and were subjected to brutality. Perhaps they showed up then to protest the military invasion of Portland by Trump. Reporters and legal observers were specially targeted as were folks handing out water and providing first aid in the park. The protests were videotaped by most everyone present including members of the press. The scenes caught on those videos are horrifying as protestors fled fearing for their very safety as federal agents ran wildly through the crowd shooting anyone who moved often shooting folks in the back and face. The team of lawyers working on Clark and the separate related cases volunteered because of the horrific images flashed across screens every night and what those implied about our government. The fight started over police abuses against the Black community, evolved into protests against police brutality and then it became about accountability and then it became about the preservation of Democracy. Perhaps some could say it was an existential fight but to the protestors, legal observers and reporters it had the feel and smell of battle. We should not tolerate or allow the government to invade, shoot and kidnap citizens. We should fight until there is no more fight left in us. But how do we fight if our own government hides the names, information and truth about what happened in the protests of the summer of 2020? We just fight on. Never, ever give up. Michelle Burrows represents plaintiffs in actions against law enforcement, prisons and other governmental bodies who wrongly interfere with protected rights held by everyone. She contributes to the OTLA Guardians of Civil Justice at the Guardians Club level. Her office is located at 1333 NE Orenco Station Pkwy., Ste. 525, Hillsboro, OR 97124. She can be reached at 503-241-1955 or michelle.r.burrows@ gmail.com. 1 I made a call to lawyers to join a team. David Sugerman, Nadia Dahab, Jane Moison, Gabe Chase, Joe Puicci, Chris Larsen, Dave Park and Erious Johnson answered. Some of the team became judges, others retired, but the team fights on.
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