The only information available regarding this case is a United States Court of Appeals opinion which includes a brief summary of the procedural history. In the late 1970s, a class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana seeking injunctive relief and alleging violations of the Eighth Amendment at Vanderburgh County Jail. The class consisted of current and future inmates of the jail. In 1994, the district court approved a settlement providing injunctive relief and retaining jurisdiction to enforce the injunction. Five years later, an inmate, David Kifer, asked the district court to modify the injunction. Kifer was represented by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU). Kifer was never appointed as class representative but was listed as plaintiff on several court documents. The ICLU entered into negotiations with the jail and Kifer filed several motions, including a motion for appointment of new counsel and a motion to withdraw from the litigation. The district court (Judge Richard Young) denied these motions because Kifer had been discharged from jail and lacked standing. The district court also issued an order closing the case until the filing of a settlement agreement. The ICLU negotiated a settlement but it was never filed.

Kifer appealed and appeared pro se before the court of appeals. His appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Judge Richard Posner) on October 17, 2003. Kifer v. Ellsworth, 346 F.3d 1155 (7th Cir. 2003). The court noted that the class had no representative but that Kifer could not be the representative because he was not incarcerated. The Seventh Circuit urged the district judge to address this litigation and ensure that the class of inmates had representation. There is no further information available about this litigation.

Angela Heverling - 03/06/2006


compress summary