On May 20, 1999, plaintiffs filed this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Represented by private New York attorneys, the plaintiffs challenged the blanket strip search policy of the Nassau County Correctional Center. Under the policy, the plaintiffs alleged, all misdemeanor and minor offense arrestees were strip-searched, without reasonable suspicion that the arrestees were concealing weapons or other contraband. The plaintiffs alleged the policy violated the Fourth Amendment and sought declaratory and injunctive relief, monetary damages, and class certification.
This case, which was styled O'Day v. Nassau County, was one of three cases that were filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, challenging the blanket strip search policy of the Nassau County Correctional Center. The other two cases were Iaffaldano v. County of Nassau (
JC-NY-44 in this database) and Augustin v. Jablonsky (
JC-NY-24 in this database). The plaintiffs in all three cases moved to consolidate the cases and for class certification for a class defined as "all persons arrested for or charged with non-felony offenses who have been admitted to the Nassau County Correctional Center and strip searched without particularized reasonable suspicion." The District Court (Distrct Judge Denis J. Hurley) consolidated the cases, but denied class certification. Augustin v. Jablonsky , 2001 WL 770839 (E.D. N.Y. Mar. 08, 2001).
See Augustin v. Jablonsky (
JC-NY-0024 in this database) for the full summary of proceedings occurring after consolidation of the three cases.
On April 10, 2014 the court entered final judgment for the defendant on Federal constitutional claims, and for the plaintiff class on state constitutional claims, awarding $11,508,000 in damages as well as attorney's fees. Both the plaintiff class and the defendant filed appeals.
The defendant filed for additional time to make the deposit necessary for the disbursement of compensatory damages. On April 30, 2014, Judge Denis R.
Hurley denied this motion as premature. The defendants then moved for a show cause hearing to stay the execution of judgment. Following a show cause hearing on June 4, 2014, the court ordered the award stayed for 180 days, with an alternative option to stay the award payment indefinitely with the posting of a $11,508,000 bond.
The defendants filed a motion to stay the final judgment in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on November 12, 2014. The court granted this motion on December 23, 2014.
On February 26, 2016, the Appellate court (Judge Jose A. Cabranes, Judge Rosemary S. Pooler, Judge Denny Chin) upheld the District court ruling. The court agreed with the District court's reasoning that there were no grounds for federal relief but there were state constitutional violations for which plaintiffs should be awarded relief.
On August 18, 2016, the Appellate court denied the defendants' motion to stay the mandate. On September 6, 2016, the defendants filed a writ of certiorari to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 12, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the writ of certiorari.
Litigation continued for a year regarding the distribution of funds. The case is now closed.
Dan Dalton - 03/05/2008
Michael Abrams - 10/28/2016
Anna Brito - 03/24/2019
compress summary
