On November 4, 2015, residents of Pagedale who had received warnings that they may receive tickets, have been ticketed, or will be ticketed by the city filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The plaintiffs sued the City of Pagedale under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. § 2201, alleging violations of the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The plaintiffs, represented by both private counsel and a public interest law firm, asked the court for certification of their proposed Ticket and Warning Recipients class, declaratory and injunctive relief, nominal damages, and attorneys’ fees.
The plaintiffs claimed that the City of Pagedale used its code enforcement and municipal court to generate revenue, violating the Due Process and Excessive Fines Clauses of the Constitution and abusing the City’s police powers. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that the City’s search for revenue resulted in government intrusion into the homes of residents by dramatically increasing the number of non-traffic tickets issued, ticketing for conditions it terms “nuisances,” regulating things not included in its Code, and fining or imprisoning residents for minor infractions (including such things as basketball hoops or dish antennas in the front of houses, not walking on the right side of crosswalks, or wearing one’s pants below the waist in public). The plaintiffs also alleged that Pagedale’s municipal court system, through its opacity and inaccessibility, denies ticketed residents their right of due process.
On December 7, 2015, the City filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ class allegations. On December 21, 2015, the City also moved to dismiss one of the individual plaintiffs' claims for lack of justiciable controversy.
On January 22, 2016, the court (Judge Rodney W. Sippel) denied the City’s motion to strike the class allegations from the plaintiff’s complaint. The court determined that, while the class is quite broad, it does not lack any possible relation or logical connection to the subject matter, so a motion to strike is not appropriate.
On March 10, 2016, Judge Sippel denied the defendant's motion to dismiss in part and granted it in part. Only Count IV of the plaintiff's complaint, which alleged a Section 1983 violation based on the "city's practice of treating harmless activities and conditions as nuisances and fining Pagedale residents for harmless activities and conditions exceeds the City's police powers and causes irreparable injury to plaintiffs' constitutional rights," was dismissed. Judge Sippel found that Count IV failed to identify any violation of a right protected under the Constitution or federal law, an essential element of a Section 1983 claim. The rest of the plaintiff's case proceeded to discovery. 2016 WL 915303.
On September 2, 2016, Judge Sippel referred the case to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The parties selected Stephen J. Limbaugh as the Neutral. On October 17, 2016, the Neutral reported that the parties participated in ADR in good faith but did not reach settlement.
The parties proceeded with discovery, and the plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification on October 18, 2017. On January 10, 2018, the parties entered a proposed consent decree, which provided for steps for reform of Pagedale municipal court practices and city prosecutions as well as eliminating part of the municipal code the city deemed "nuisance" behavior. The consent decree did not require Pagedale to refund money to citizens who were ticketed, but those who were ticketed would not face jail unless they had an attorney or had waived their right to an attorney. Pagedale was to submit reports for five years after the decree was entered. The consent decree stated that both parties would cover their own costs and fees. Following a February 2, 2018 hearing on the proposed consent decree, Judge Sippel granted preliminary approval of the proposed consent decree.
In a February 6, 2018 order, Judge Sippel also certified the plaintiff's proposed class, which is defined as "all persons who, at any time since January 1, 2010, have received warning that they may receive tickets, have been ticketed, or will be ticketed by the city of Pagedale." Judge Sippel finalized the consent decree on May 21, 2018. As of October 2018, the consent decree is ongoing.
Katrina Fetsch - 02/10/2016
Sarah McDonald - 03/25/2018
Anna Brito - 10/11/2018
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