7 Lawsuits: How much will they cost the City of South Bend?

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Right now, the City of South Bend is being threatened by seven lawsuits related to the South Bend Police Department phone recording scandal.

We wanted to know 'Who is on the hook for that?', and 'How much will it cost?'

ABC 57 News spent the day hitting the streets and looking for answers.

We uncovered that the city itself may actually be in the clear on some of these lawsuits.

According to Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Wiretapping Act doesn't allow for civil suits against municipalities.

That means the initial five Notices of Tort Claim from Corbett, Wells, Richmond, and Youngs may never cost the city a dime.

However, the civil suits from Boykins and DePaepe are a different story.