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Minn. Stat. § 471.44

MUNICIPALITY TO SUPPLY COUNSEL FOR POLICE, PEACE OFFICERS.

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Bicking v. City of Minneapolis (2017)

Most recently applied in Graco, Inc. v. City of Minneapolis (March 2019)

(1933-81) 1937 c 442 s 1; 1947 c 390 s 1; 1973 c 123 art 5 s 7; 1986 c 444; 1993 c 220 s 1; 2004 c 200 s 1

How often courts cite this section

1986199020002010201910
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Subdivision 1. Costs in defense of legal action.

On and after the passage of Laws 1937, chapter 442, every city, town, or county of this state employing sheriffs, police officers, or peace officers shall be required to furnish legal counsel to defend any sheriff, deputy sheriff, police officer, or peace officer employed by any such governmental subdivision in all actions brought against such officer to recover damages for alleged false arrest or alleged injury to person, property or character, when such alleged false arrest or alleged injury to person, property or character was the result of an arrest made by such officer in good faith and in the performance of official duties and pay the reasonable costs and expenses of defending such suit, including witness fees and reasonable counsel fees, notwithstanding any contrary provisions in the laws of this state or in the charter of any such governmental subdivision.

Subd. 2. Costs in defense of civilian complaints.

A home rule charter or statutory city, town, or county that establishes a peace officer civilian review authority to review civilian complaints about alleged peace officer misconduct shall pay the reasonable costs of legal counsel and reasonable fees incurred by the officer in defending against a complaint after a finding that the complaint is sustained by the authority, and if the complaint is subsequently not upheld. If a complaint against a peace officer is sustained, no payment may be made under this subdivision.

Official source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Minnesota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.