The Sacramento California Sheriff's Department agreed to a record $15 million settlement on June 4, 2004 to resolve federal and state lawsuits for damages and injunctive relief regarding illegal strip-search practices at the Sacramento County Jail. The suits stemmed from a policy of mixing felony and misdemeanant detainees together in ...
The New Mexico State Court of Appeals has ruled that Dona Ana County must disclose to the Las Cruces Sun-News records relating to a civil suit settlement between the County and female jail detainees who were sexually abused by jail guards. Sun-News attorney fees were also awarded.
In 1999 a ...
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama approved a settlement agreement between a class of prisoners, defined as "all acutely or severely mentally ill male inmates who are presently or will in the future be incarcerated in the Alabama Department of Corrections" (ADOC), and the defendant state ...
Loaded on
April 15, 2003
published in Verdict1
April, 2003, page 28
Washington State recently settled or was found liable in three separate law suits alleging that it negligently supervised probationers or parolees. Negligent supervision cases are not new in Washington. Since 2000, the State either settled or was ordered to pay more than $100 million in similar suits.
The family of ...
On July 8, 2002, both Suffolk County and the City of Boston entered into a settlement agreement to pay $10 million for violating the equal protection rights of female detainees at the Suffolk County Jail who, unlike similarly situated male detainees, were strip-searched when being booked. The settlement includes costs, ...
by Donna Brorby and Meredith Martin Rountree
One of the biggest prison class actions of our time is over. As appeals by both sides were pending in the Fifth Circuit, the historic Ruiz class action lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) was dismissed by agreement of the ...
by David M. Reutter
A federal district court in South Dakota has held the PLRA attorney fees provision does not apply to juvenile facilities, and awarded $379,000 in attorney fees and costs. The court had before it the plaintiff's motion for attorney fees and costs after a Settlement Agreement (SA) ...
Loaded on
Aug. 15, 2002
published in Verdict1
August, 2002, page 22
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a pro se motion must be accepted as a notice of appeal if it states the intent to appeal, and that a jury's damage award could be set off against a plaintiff's liability for costs awarded to defendants when the plaintiff ...
Loaded on
July 15, 2002
published in Verdict1
July, 2002, page 22
by Matthew T. Clarke
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the district court's sanctions against the prisoners' lawyers in a suit against Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC) after the lawyers revealed the terms of a secret settlement agreement.
Five young girls who were allegedly sexually, mentally, and physically ...
Loaded on
May 15, 2002
published in Verdict1
May, 2002, page 13
The Montana Supreme Court held that prevailing party did not establish that privacy rights of parties outweighed the public's right to know what costs it incurred in a settlement agreement.
Steve Pengra brought suit against Montana, contending that the State's negligent acts and omissions led to the brutal rape and ...