Herrera v. Valentine

Jo Ann Yellow Bird (plaintiff) and her husband, vocal critics of police misconduct in Gordon, Nebraska (defendant), were the subject of an incident where officer Clifford Valentine (defendant) kicked Yellow Bird in the abdomen and threw her to the ground while trying to arrest her husband, then drove her to jail while refusing medical care and threatening to kill her in the woods; Yellow Bird's unborn child died as a result, and she suffered physical and emotional injuries. A jury awarded her $300,000 in a civil-rights suit against Gordon and Valentine, and the defendants appealed, arguing the trial court improperly instructed the jury that it could separately compensate her for the violation of her constitutional rights on top of her physical and emotional injury damages.