Ben Crump's Most Notable Civil Rights Cases to Date

In the lawsuit Crump filed against Thermo Fisher on behalf of the estate of Henrietta Lacks, he stated the company took Lacks’ DNA without consent. This led to her relatives being unable to profit from what her cells created. With the help of Crump, Lacks’ family signed a confidential agreement with Thermo Fisher on what would have been Lacks’ 103rd birthday.

Last year, Tyre Nichols was pulled over in Memphis for allegedly driving under the influence. Memphis Scorpion unit members dragged him out of his vehicle and assaulted him. Nichols managed to escape on foot, but another group of Scorpion officers beat him senseless. Nichols died just days later from his injuries. Crump represented his family in a civil lawsuit against the five officers criminally charged, the City of Memphis and another officer who was involved in the incident but was terminated.

Last year, Dexter Wade was run over by an off-duty police officer in Jackson, Miss. and later buried in a pauper’s grave without his family being alerted to his death. Wade’s family recruited Crump to receive answer about their loved one’s tragic death. Crump arranged for an independent autopsy before Wade was reburied in a cemetery with a headstone bearing his name. He also called for an investigation from the Justice Department.

In 2022, Crump filed a lawsuit on behalf of 12 individuals who were allegedly sexually abused in L.A. County-run MacLaren Children’s Center. The statement that was provided explained the center’s staff overmedicated, taunted and restrained the children. The staff was also accused of not having proper training or given sufficient background checks.

Last year, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was headed to pick up his younger siblings in Kansas City, Missouri but accidentally went to the wrong house. When Yarl rang the doorbell and waited on the porch, Andrew Lester appeared behind his glass door and shot him twice with his firearm. Luckily, Yarl recovered from his injuries and his family retained Crump to represent them.

The elderly Marsha Ervin was arrested and charged with voter fraud last year. She was initially flagged for allegedly claiming she was eligible to vote in Florida during 2020 and 2022 while being on probation. Crump immediately spoke out and requested her charges be dropped. He also demanded that Florida stop intimidating Black voters.

Relatives of Ruth Whitfield, an 82-year-old woman killed at Tops supermarket in 2022 by white supremacist Payton Gendron, hired Crump to represent them in a possible lawsuit. Crump demanded police officers determine if a far-right conspiracy theory was a factor in Gendron’s racist attack.

Jerome Stevenson, an inmate at the Avoyelles Parish DC-1 facility, died on Nov. 6 after a violent incident involving two corrections officers and another inmate two days earlier. Crump worked with the family and the NAACP to investigate the incident.

Earlier this year, 53-year-old Frank Tyson died while crying “I can’t breathe” during an encounter with police officers. Tyson was restrained by officers, face down and handcuffed with his hands behind his back. His family obtained Crump for representation, who said: “The loss of Frank Tyson is an infuriating tragedy, echoing the haunting cries of George Floyd, whose death should have meant that this one never happened.”

Crump aided the defense of both staff and students at Tennessee State University. He requested that lawmakers allocate funds toward the school that he claimed were long overdue. The Biden administration released a statement that addressed Tennessee underfunding its HBCUs by billions. Crump worked diligently to recover these funds.

In early July 2024, 22-year-old Raejonette Morgan was found shot to death inside a car full of bullet holes in South Los Angeles. “It was initially unclear whether the vehicle belonged to the suspect or the victim,” the LASD release said. “From the patrol car, the Deputy requested assistance from South Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.” Morgan’s family is demanding to know the actions of the first deputy who was called to the scene, who is a member of the Parks Bureau. The family recruited Crump to assist them.

In 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot to death near a condominium complex in Sanford, Fla. by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, was a self-appointed, armed neighborhood watcher who said he was merely defending himself and was ultimately acquitted of murder charges. Crump, hired by Martin’s family, demanded Zimmerman’s arrest and led demonstrations calling for charges be brought against him.

Houston woman Eboni Pouncy was shot five times by police after they mistook her for an intruder. Officers were responding to an alleged break-in after Pouncy’s friend broke a window to get into her apartment when she forgot her key. Pouncy survived her injuries and hired Crump to represent her. Crump compared the case to the police killing of Breonna Taylor in her apartment in 2020.