Without a criminal indictment, Michael Brown's family might have no better legal recourse than to sue local authorities for the African-American teenager's fatal shooting by a white police officer from Ferguson, Missouri.

After a St. Louis County grand jury decided on Monday not to indict officer Darren Wilson — and given the high bar to a federal criminal prosecution — the family may follow the path of other high-profile U.S. police shootings and file a civil lawsuit for wrongful death or civil rights violations.

In some such cases, the authorities who oversee police departments generally agree to settle for millions of dollars.