Civil Rights, Police Misconduct, & Wrongful Convictions

Even when the government insists it did nothing wrong, the Fourth Amendment still draws a firm line at the front door of your home. Strang Bradley secured a series of rulings that the searches and seizures were unconstitutional, and reached a $575,000 settlement with the City of Milwaukee.

What Happened

Beginning in 2018, Niki Robinson and Patrick Tomlinson became repeated victims of “swatting,” the practice of placing hoax emergency calls designed to provoke an armed police response to a victim’s home. Over the following two years, anonymous callers reported murders, hostage situations, mass shootings, and suicides at their home address. In all, Milwaukee police were sent to the home 45 times, and repeatedly:

• Ordered Niki and Patrick out of their own home at gunpoint
• Entered and searched the house without a warrant
• Handcuffed Patrick on his front porch, in a state of undress, at roughly 1:00 a.m.
• Threatened to kick down the door when the couple declined to let officers inside

Internally, the Milwaukee Police Department understood exactly what was happening. When one officer requested that the home be flagged as a “Swatter House” in the dispatch system, a supervisor declined, and their home kept getting raided.

The Lawsuit

Strang Bradley filed a federal civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, naming the City of Milwaukee and twenty members of the Milwaukee Police Department, including two sergeants. The complaint alleged that the officers violated the couple’s Fourth Amendment rights through unlawful searches and seizures and through their failure to intervene to stop one another, and that the City itself was liable under Monell v. Department of Social Services for failing to train and supervise its officers and for failing to adopt any policy to protect the couple from a danger it plainly knew about.

The Fourth Amendment treats the home as “first among equals.” Police may walk up, knock, and ask to talk — but the moment they refuse to take no for an answer, force a resident outside, or cross the threshold without a warrant, they need either genuine probable cause or a true emergency. After dozens of demonstrably false calls and a coherent, visibly unharmed resident standing in front of them, the officers had neither.

The Court’s Findings

On March 26, 2026, U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller issued a 72-page summary judgment order. The court repeatedly agreed with our clients on the core constitutional question, finding that the officers’ conduct repeatedly violated the Fourth Amendment.

The court did dismiss the claims against the individual officers on qualified immunity grounds — not because their actions were lawful, but because, in the court’s view, no prior case had yet “clearly established” how officers must handle repeated swatting at a known address. Significantly, however, the court allowed the municipal liability (Monell) claims against the City of Milwaukee to move forward — because, unlike individual officers, a city does not enjoy qualified immunity.

The Resolution

With the City facing trial on the surviving claims, the Milwaukee City Attorney recommended settlement, writing that resolving the case was “in the City’s best interest.” The parties agreed to a $575,000 settlement to compensate Niki Robinson and Patrick Tomlinson for the years of unlawful searches and seizures they endured.

Why This Case Matters

For anyone whose rights have been violated by police — through an unlawful search, an unlawful arrest, excessive force, or a department’s failure to train and supervise its officers — this result shows what determined civil rights litigation can accomplish, even against the defense of qualified immunity.