Mr. Joseph J Popolizio

Practice Details

• Firm Information
  Position

  Partner

  Firm Name

  Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C.
• Representative Cases & Transactions
  Cases

  Case Results: United States of America v . Maricopa County, et al, U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, CV12-00981-PHX-ROS: Brought by the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, this case involved a Title VI investigation
  resulting action. The DOJ easily forced most other municipalities
  law enforcement entities into consent decrees in law enforcement
  jail settings. However Joe ensured the DOJ presented only facts with no embellishment, defended the DOJ's accusations vigorously,
  was prepared for trial on allegations of retaliation, racial profiling,
  discrimination against Spanish speaking inmates. The DOJ withdrew
  the result was no consent decree
  no court appointed monitor assigned to oversee MCSO jails or law enforcement operations stemming from this action. Instead, the DOJ entered into an unprecedented settlement agreement, allowing MCSO to adopt minor policy changes
  to continue to operate its jails the way it had been operating them.
  Of special note, Joe helped develop a cutting edge LEP (Limited English Proficiency) Unit
  Program within the Maricopa County Jails that is unrivaled in any jurisdiction or facility, including federal facilities. Recently, the DOJ announced that it will not continue its oversight of the Maricopa County Jails due to the changes
  innovations that Joe helped implement.
  United States of America v . Joseph M. Arpaio , et al., U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, No. CV10-01878-PHX-GMS: With a court appointed monitor already in place, Joe took over the compliance arm of this action, after several attorneys had failed to address, timely comply with,
  weigh the appropriateness of the dem
  s by the monitor's team, the ACLU,
  the DOJ. Within several months of assuming this role, Joe
  his team restructured the client's approach, developed a compliance system for the client,
  cleared the backlog of monitor requests. This placed the client in a position to work on eliminating monitor, DOJ
  ACLU oversight
  control of law enforcement operations.
  Gotbaum v . City of Phoenix, 617 F. Supp. 2d 878 (D. Ariz. 2008): Joe successfully defended the City of Phoenix in a high-profile, nationally-covered wrongful death action stemming from the in custody death of Carol Gotbaum, a politically well-connected New York City socialite. Although Plaintiff's dem
  was in the multi-millions, the case settled for a nominal amount
  less than Plaintiffs' costs.
  In addition, Joe's motion practice resulted in a reported decision on an issue on which the Plaintiffs
  defense bar were in dispute-whether the Phoenix Police Department could be sued. The result was that the Phoenix Police Department was not a jural entity
  therefore could not be sued. This decision greatly reduced exposure to the client in this
  future lawsuits,
  paved the way for a similar decision for another Valley governmental entity.
  Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, et al v. Joseph M. Arpaio, et al , U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, CV-0702513-PHX-GMS: