In the fall of 2023 — from October through December — the city paid out more than $3 million in settlements for various lawsuits. Residents sued after they tripped and fell on sidewalks, for discrimination and for civil rights violations. Two people were in crashes with solid waste employees and two were in crashes with Albuquerque police officers. Another was injured on the Sun Van — a ride service for those whose disabilities make it so they can’t ride the regular bus routes.

Here are some of the most notable — and high dollar — settlements from the second quarter of fiscal year 2024:

A man sued the city after he got into a crash at Volcano Road and 98th Street in March 2019. He said foliage and signage made it impossible for him to see into the intersection and when he crept over the line he was struck by another vehicle heading north. The intersection was the site of 71 crashes between 2015 and 2018, according to the lawsuit.
Amount paid: $750,000

Gabriel Garcia, who was shot by Albuquerque Police Department officer Quan La in October 2022, sued the city for assault and battery and civil rights violations. La suspected Garcia was breaking into a convenience store and chased after him. When Garcia threw a rock at the officer, La shot him. La was fired in February 2023.
Amount paid: $415,000

A married couple sued the city, saying that in October 2019 an animal welfare department worker made an illegal U-Turn and crashed into the passenger side of their vehicle, injuring the wife.
Amount Paid $300,000

Mark Aragon and Nicholas Layman, from the news site ABQ RAW, sued the city for violating the Inspection of Public Records Act. They had filed records requests — in December 2020 and April 2021 — for police lapel camera footage and for emails, text messages, memos and more from 12 high-ranking city officials and did not receive any documents.
Amount Paid: $341,495 and $225,000

A man sued the city saying that in October 2020 he was at the Cerro Colorado landfill in Southwest Albuquerque to dispose of some trash when a city worker in a motor grader backed into him, totaling his vehicle. He also was injured.
Amount Paid $205,000

A man sued the city saying that in March 2019 he was seriously injured when a solid waste employee negligently backed a loader out of a garage and into him at the Eagle Rock Solid Waste facility.
Amount Paid $200,000

Nan Zhang, a former cadet who sued the city saying that she was discriminated against and forced to resign from the academy, alleged the city violated the Inspection of Public Records Act. 
Amount Paid: $105,000

Angela Byrd, a former commander of the Albuquerque Police Department’s academy who was fired in October 2020, sued the city for violating the Whistleblowers Protection Act and retaliating against her when she tried to report her concerns about Harold Medina — who was deputy chief and is now chief. 
Amount paid: $85,000

Jeremy Dear sued for violations of the Inspection of Public Records Act. Dear, an Albuquerque Police Department officer at the center of the controversial shooting of 19-year-old Mary Hawkes in 2014, was fired for violating “standard operating procedures regarding insubordination and untruthfulness.” 
Amount Paid: $56,694