On May 6, 2013, a prisoner with limited mobility disability filed this class action lawsuit in the US Federal District Court for the Eastern District of California. The plaintiff sued California Forensic Medical Group and Shasta County Sheriff's Department under the American with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and state law. This case was assigned to Chief Judge Morrison C. England, Jr and Magistrate Judge Allison Claire.
This petition began as a pro se civil complaint, where the plaintiff claimed that he was mistreated while he was an inmate at Shasta County Jail. As an inmate with a documented mobility disability, he was not placed in areas that accommodated his needs. He complained of being placed on a top bunk six feet off the ground and on the second floor of a cell block that required him to go up and down stairs. In an attempt to help prisoners with a medical disability, the defendant placed the plaintiff in administrative segregation, which prevented him and other medical inmates from using a dayroom, going to religious services, and engaging in other prison activities. Furthermore, whenever he would submit written complaints about this grievance, there was no judicial process for reviewing—the requests were simply denied.
While in prison the plaintiff filed this civil complaint, and subsequent first, second, and third amended complaints. After filing the third amended complaint in March 2014, the plaintiff was released from prison and obtained counsel to represent him, submitting a fourth amended complaint. Plaintiff also acquired counsel from the Disability Rights Legal Center. The parties moved to discovery, after which the plaintiff filed a fifth amended complaint.
Then, on January 27, 2017, the plaintiff moved to certify a class defined as “[a]ll current and future detainees and prisoners at Shasta County Jail with mobility disabilities who, because of their disabilities, need appropriate accommodations, modifications, services, and and/or physical access in accordance with federal and state disability laws." On March 13, 2017, Magistrate Judge Claire recommended that this motion be granted. Adopting this recommendation in full, Judge England granted class certification on April 5, 2017.
Over the summer, the parties reached a settlement. On August 11, 2017, the parties filed a memorandum with the court outlining the settlement agreement. Principally, the agreement required that the defendants and class counsel to agree on reforms to jail conditions for prisoners with mobility disabilities. This would include reforming the prisoners' access to grievance forms and daily living. These policies were to be offered by experts in the area of disability and accessibility. In addition, the defendants were to be monitored during the two year term of the agreement to ensure compliance and were required to adopt an improved grievance/dispute resolution process, disclose these new policies to relevant class members, train jail staff in the administration of the new policies, and provide their own reports on the matter.
On January 23, 2018, the parties jointly moved for preliminary approval of the class action settlement and for certification of the settlement class. On March 21, 2018, the court granted preliminary approval and set a fairness hearing for final approval for June 28, 2018.
On April 11, 2018, the plaintiff filed a motion for attorneys’ fees in the amount of $1,778,254.65. The court has not yet ruled on this motion. As of June 22, the case is ongoing.
Erica Christianson - 09/27/2016
Jake Parker - 06/22/2018
compress summary
