After a two year courtship, the unholy alliance of "blood-sucking" lawyers and the destitute was consumated in Chicago last week when a settlement was reached in a class action lawsuit.

edit: the rest

so, were the civil rights of the beggars really violated?

Check your link slash.

As I read it , slashdot, the panhandlers who were given settlements had been wrongly arrested or ticketed. Anyone who is wrongly arrested is compensated.

and i infer this to mean it was arbitrated (it was a settlement), but not mandated. Thusly, i have not been persuaded that they were wrongly arrested, even though the settlement conditions will be honored.additionally, this may speak to a "raw deal", but not so much a miscarriage of justice. it appears due process was respected.

my $.02 (canadian)