I.U.P.A. Local Milwaukee Police Association, #21 sued on behalf of injured officers and a court decision in their favor paved the way for injured police officers to receive the full amount of retroactive benefits they are owed by the city of Milwaukee.

The lawsuit arose when Attorney Christopher MacGillis was successful in a class action lawsuit and was paid for his services, but decided that he believed he was entitled to expand the class after the fact, requesting $1.2 million in attorney’s fees he wanted taken directly from the back pay owed to the injured officers who were not part of his class action lawsuit.

The I.U.P.A. stood with the I.U.P.A. Local Milwaukee Police Association, #21 when President Cabral and Secretary-Treasurer Crivello penned a letter to MacGillis, which was quoted in an article published by LRIS and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “The two leaders of the International Union of Police Associations have written Milwaukee attorney Christopher MacGillis to condemn his effort to collect nearly $700,000 in legal fees from 96 retired Milwaukee officers on duty disability — even though they’re not his clients.” You can read the articles here.

I.U.P.A. Local Milwaukee Police Association President Andrew Wagner can be seen being interviewed on this topic here. I.U.P.A. Local Milwaukee Police Association, #21 posted a link to this article on social media with the post, “JUST IN: The Milwaukee Police Association is pleased and gratified with today’s court decision that paves the way for injured police officers to receive the full amount of retroactive benefits they are owed by the city of Milwaukee.”

Their post continued, “This decision puts an end to attorney Christopher MacGillis’ audacious request for $1.2 million in attorney’s fees he wanted taken directly from the back pay owed to the injured officers. No one should profit on the backs of injured police officers. We commend the city’s voluntary change in practice and calculation of former MPA member and current DDR (Duty Disability Retirement) beneficiaries. When the city was prepared to pay $3.6 million in additional benefits to the disabled police officers last summer, we were outraged when Attorney MacGillis filed a motion to stop the payments.”

The post concluded, “Not only did these disabled officers risk losing 1/3 of benefits that they are entitled to, but they also have not received these retroactive benefits yet, even though the city was prepared to pay them last summer. We expect the city will now move expeditiously to pay these officers. Our members risk their lives for this community every day – and many have paid for it with a myriad of health issues that forced them into an early retirement. Our injured officers deserve better. #theforcebehindtheforce.”