We served as co-lead counsel in twelve successful class actions on behalf of individuals who were strip searched in county jails after being arrested for minor crimes.
Settlements with the counties in these cases demonstrate that the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, as nearly all federal appellate courts have interpreted it, prohibits detention facility officials from strip searching arrestees charged with minor crimes without having "reasonable suspicion" that they are carrying weapons or contraband.
The outcomes in these twelve cases will benefit thousands of people who have suffered the indignity of being unlawfully strip searched. The name and status of each case as of July 22, 2010 is listed below.
Arizona:
- Land v. County of Maricopa, Case No. 08-cv-1558 (U.S. District Court for Arizona)
New Jersey:
- Hicks v. County of Camden, Case No. 05-CV-1857 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey); SETTLED.
- Suggs v. County of Cumberland, Case No. 06-CV-0087 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey) SETTLED.
- Wilson v. County of Gloucester, Case No. 06-CV-1368 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey) SETTLED
- Boiselle v. County of Mercer, Case No. 06-CV-2065 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey) SETTLED.
- Graff v. County of Salem, Case No. 07-CV-2259 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey) SETTLED.
- Moore v. County of Atlantic, Case No. 07-CV-05444 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey)
- Garcia v. County of Ocean, Case No. 07-CV-5665 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey)
- Takacs v. County of Union, Case No. 08-CV-711 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey)
- Sidieras v. County of Bergen, Case No. 08-CV-1179 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey)
- Takacs v. County of Middlesex, Case No. 08-CV-694 (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey)
New York:
- Pritchard v. County of Erie, Case No. 04-CV-0534 (U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York)
- McDaniel v. County of Schenectady, Case No. 04-CV-0757 (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York) SETTLED.
- Mitchell v. County of Clinton, Case No. 06-CV-0254 (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York) SETTLED.
- Williams v. County of Niagara, Case No. 06-CV-0291 (U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York)
Pennsylvania:
- Boone v. City of Philadelphia, Case No. 05-CV-1851 (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania) SETTLED.
- Delandro v. County of Allegheny, Case No. 06-CV-0927 (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania)
- Reynolds v. County of Dauphin, Case No. 07-CV-1688 (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania) SETTLED.
- Gwiazdowski v. County of Chester, Case No. 08-CV-4463 (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
- Logory v. Susquehanna County, Case No. 09-CV-1448 (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania)
- Skoda v. County of Lackawanna, Case No. 10-CV-0110 (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania)
- Algerio v. County of Pike, Case No. 10-CV-0111 (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania)
- Stolarak v. The County of Luzerne, Case No. 10-CV-1507 (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania)
South Carolina:
- King v. Marlboro County, Case No. 09-1315-TLW-WMC (U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Florence Division)
Texas:
- Jackson v. County of Bexar, Case No. 07-CV-0928 (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas)
For additional information, please contact Alexandra C. Warren or Charles LaDuca.
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For hundreds of IBM service call center representatives who are or were allegedly being worked "off-the-clock" in an Atlanta facility, we have won conditional certification for a collective action to be brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Litigation in the case continues.
For information on this case, please contact Jon Tostrud.
In two separate cases, our clients allege that private security company Securitas (California) and Per Mar Securities Services (Iowa and other Midwestern states) owe more than 60,000 of their guards tens of millions of dollars in overtime wages for work they were required to perform "off-the-clock."
As private security guards, our plaintiffs put themselves in harm's way to protect others, yet are denied the wages they are entitled to by law. Litigation in both of these separate cases is proceeding.
For information on this case, please contact Jon Tostrud.
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For loan officers seeking overtime wages who work at Home Mortgage Desk in New York, we have filed suit against the company's officers and directors seeking compensation allegedly due them.
For information on this case, please contact Jon Tostrud.
In a lawsuit we filed in 2008, thousands of employees of the Fremont General sub-prime loan company seek recoveries of their retirement fund contributions allegedly invested by the company in violation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The overwhelming majority of employees' retirement contributions were invested in Fremont's own common stock allegedly based on misinformation provided to employees by company management.
For information on this case, please contact Jon Tostrud.
We represent over 100 Fairfax County, Virginia residents in a lawsuit under the Virginia Constitution against the County and the Virginia Department of Transportation seeking $20 million in compensation for damages to their homes caused by the massive flood in June 2006 of the Cameron Run Creek.
The flood resulted from the construction of the Washington Beltway which rechanneled the Run to this neighborhood and the natural drainage system filled in. The Virginia Constitution promises compensation for both a "taking" and a "damaging" of private property, and a central legal issue in the case concerns the scope of the "damaging" provision. The case is being appealed to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
For additional information, please contact Robert J. Cynkar.
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