an equal and opposite reaction
Case Details for "Meeker County, MN"
Meeker County Settles Strip Search Class Action Lawsuit
Meeker County's former practice of strip searching and sometimes photographing private body parts of all newly arrested people as they were booked into jail will cost the Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust $1.75 million.
The agreement calls for paying $50,000 to Gail Lynn Simpson, of Big Lake, who filed the initial civil lawsuit against Meeker County in March 2008. Simpson charged that she had been booked into the jail five times on traffic violations, misdemeanor theft and a child-support dispute. She was strip searched each time, and her pierced breasts were photographed during her last admission, according to the civil complaint.
The order also requires that $950,000 in compensation be divided into shares and paid to 397 other claimants. They had filed forms by Sept. 11, 2009, asserting to have been strip searched or photographed when booked into jail during the period covered by the lawsuit, March 31, 2002 through April 30, 2008. The compensation will be awarded based on a formula that took into account their claims of 807 compensable strip searches and 132 compensable instances of photography of personal areas.
The court also ordered that up to $70,000 be set aside as a "stragglers fund'' and used to compensate other persons who have until Nov. 24 to file claims for having been strip searched or photographed.
Meeker County also agrees to maintain its new procedures on strip searches and photography. The new procedures were adopted one month after the filing of the lawsuit. They limit strip searches to newly arrested persons who are charged with felony level offenses or offenses involving drugs or weapons or in cases where officers have reason for suspicion. The plaintiffs alleged in their lawsuit that the county was essentially strip searching everybody who was booked into the jail for more than six hours, even if the charged offense was a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor.
Posted on:2009-10-21
Company: Meeker County, MN
Class: Those strip searched during applicable class period
Scope: Minnesota
Type of Case: Civil Rights
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