Mayfield Settles Case Against Feds for $2 Million

November 29, 2006

Author: Ryan Geddes

Source: Beaverton Valley Times

http://www.beavertonvalleytimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=116482687291016800

The Washington County lawyer wrongly arrested by the FBI in connection with the 2004 terrorist bombings of passenger trains in Madrid has settled his lawsuit against the federal government for $2 million.

Brandon Mayfield, a muslim who lives in Aloha and practices law in Beaverton, sued the United States, the U.S. Attorney General, the FBI and federal agents for continuing to investigate him after Spanish authorities eliminated him as a suspect.

In May 2004, the FBI apologized to Mayfield and his family for confusing the lawyer's fingerprints with those of an Algerian man, but Mayfield sued the government, alleging that agents mistreated him during his arrest and illegally investigated him after he was released.

“Although my family and I can never be made whole for the illegal and unwarranted violations of our privacy, the secret searches of our home and my law office, and the tapping of our phones, the settlement of our financial damages claim allows our case to move forward against the government on its most important issue: that the Patriot Act is unconstitutional,” Mayfield said in a statement.