On November 3, 2005, a woman arrested for a minor criminal infraction filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in order to challenge the Sheriff's policies, practices, and customs concerning the use of strip and visual body cavity searches in the Placer County Jail. The named plaintiff, represented by private attorney Mark E. Merin, alleged that she was forced to strip naked, submit to a body cavity search, and display her genitalia to male officers. She further alleged that the practice was pursuant to official Placer County Jail policy, under which officers routinely subjected custodial detainees to strip and visual body cavity searches prior to arraignment and in the absence of any reasonable suspicion that the detainees possessed contraband or weapons. Plaintiff alleged that such policy violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as California state law. To remedy the alleged violations, Plaintiff sought declaratory and injunctive relief, monetary damages, and class certification.

On October 27, 2006, the parties filed a stipulation for voluntary dismissal of the suit, advising the Court that they had reached a mutual resolution of the case. The terms of the settlement were not made part of the Court record.

Dan Dalton - 01/15/2008


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