Metro & Tri-State :: printer friendly » email article » VIDEO :: MORE » TOP STORIES :: NEWS Murders blamed on 'theme of disrespect' BUSINESS Sirius, XM agree to merger SPORTS Rivera rejected, then Lovie dumps him ENTERTAINMENT 'Reno' spoof heads south LIFESTYLES Filling a need: Female dentists on rise BLOGS :: FULL COURT PRESS Welcome to Tim Hardaway's world HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL Dwight McCombs helps Young rout Curie HOEKSTRA Road Home from Super Bowl MITCHELL Pastors and politics SWEET: Sweet blog special: the Hillcast strategy. THE GOLD RUSH: Winning the Oscar isn't always a good thing Lawyers demand city pay up in Burge torture case February 20, 2007 BY ROSALIND ROSSI Staff Reporter Attorneys for three men who say they were tortured under the watch of former Police Cmdr. Jon Burge demanded Monday that the city cough up the $14.8 million settlement it quietly agreed to pay more than 3½ months ago. The "highest levels'' of city government signed off on the deal, which was agreed to on Nov. 3, according to a motion filed on behalf of Leroy Orange, Madison Hobley and Stanley Howard, three former Death Row inmates pardoned by then-Gov. George Ryan. However, city attorneys never took the next step of seeking City Council approval, said G. Flint Taylor, the three plaintiffs' lawyer. Taylor's motion demands that the $14.8 million settlement be enforced and seeks additional punitive damages for the city's "egregious bad faith'' in "refusing to honor'' the Nov. 3 deal. It also asks for the right to proceed against Mayor Daley for alleged obstruction of justice, racketeering and civil rights conspiracy during his time as Cook County state's attorney. City: No deal was struck Jennifer Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the city Law Department, insisted Monday no settlement was ever reached. Said Hoyle: "All of our discussions . . . were confidential, but we did not reach an agreement.'' Taylor said U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen had been mediating the dispute behind closed doors when the City of Chicago agreed to pay $14.8 million in November. "Then all of a sudden, in January, they are saying they can't say when they are going to come through,'' Taylor said. Last week, 15 lawyers involved in the three cases appeared before Aspen in open court. Aspen was "livid,'' Taylor said, and called the city's conduct "unprecedented" in his 27 years on the bench. The motion is the latest fallout involving Burge, the subject of torture accusations for decades. Last July, a special prosecutor found police under Burge's command tortured three other suspects, but did so too long ago to be charged. rrossi@suntimes.com