On January 27, 2009, current and former detainees at the Cook County Jail (CCJ), in Chicago, filed this class action lawsuit against Cook County and the Sheriff of Cook County in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Represented by private counsel, the plaintiffs sought certification of two sub-classes: "all inmates housed at Cook County Department of Corrections on or after January 1, 2007, who have made a written request for dental care because of acute pain and who suffered prolonged and unnecessary pain because of lack of treatment" and "all persons presently confined at the Cook County Jail who are experiencing dental pain and who have waited more than seven days after making a written request for treatment of that pain without having been examined by a dentist." For the first class, the plaintiffs sought monetary relief. For the second class, the plaintiffs sought both monetary and injunctive relief. The plaintiffs alleged that the Jail's failure to provide adequate dental care constituted deliberate indifference to their medical needs in violation of their constitutional rights. The case was assigned to Judge Joan H. Lefkow.
On November 18, 2010, the judge certified the second class of plaintiffs while denying the first class's certification. 2010 WL 4791509. Other judges in the same district had denied class certification in similar circumstances, and defendants (and the court) cited principles of comity to support denial of certification in this case. The plaintiffs moved for reconsideration of this denial, citing recent Supreme Court case law. On August 17, 2011, the judge granted this motion and certified both sub-classes. 2011 WL 13136965.
The defendants then appealed the August 17 decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The sole issue on appeal was if a district court, when deciding a motion for class certification, should defer, based on the principles of comity, to a sister court's ruling of on a motion for certification of a similar case. On June 19, 2012, the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's grant of class certification by holding that another federal district judge's rulings on class certification was not preclusive. 683 F.3d 373.
On December 22, 2014, the district court issued an opinion decertifying the injunctive class, rendering the plaintiff's request for a permanent injunction moot. 2014 WL 7330792. The court also modified the definition of the damages class, narrowing it in a way to be determined at a later date. The court noted that positive changes in the provision of dental services at CCJ had made it so that injunctive relief would be so vague as to be pointless or too detailed to be practical. The plaintiffs immediately appealed the decision to deny the injunction to the Court of Appeals and moved to sub-divide the class to address the issues perceived by the court.
The defendants also filed a motion for an interlocutory appeal of the decision not to decertify the damages class, but it was denied by the Seventh Circuit on February 25, 2015. On July 6, 2016, the Seventh Circuit denied the plaintiffs' appeal of the decertification and renewed request for injunctive relief. 828 F.3d 541.
On October 13, 2016, Judge Lefkow denied the plaintiff's motion to sub-divide the class and strongly suggested that settlement would be appropriate. 2016 WL 5939704.
Then, after many months of negotiations, the parties reached a settlement agreement and moved for preliminary approval of the agreement on May 1, 2018. The agreement required that the defendant County establish a settlement fund in the amount of $5,563,000 to cover damages for class members associated with their dental care, incentive awards, fees and costs of counsel, resolution of three separate lawsuits, and administration of this settlement. The court was to retain jurisdiction to ensure compliance with the agreement. After a fairness hearing on August 21, 2018, the court approved the settlement.
As of April 9, 2020, the case remains open for the purposes of enforcement.
Renita Khanduja - 06/22/2012
Micah Telegen - 03/03/2017
Jake Parker - 06/25/2018
Alex Moody - 04/09/2020
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