On August 13, 1985, an individual arrested for a minor offense filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, challenging the Scott County Jail's written policy of strip searching all detainees due to be placed in the general prison population regardless of whether there was any reasonable cause to believe that the detainee was carrying contraband. Plaintiff alleged that the policy was unconstitutional and requested that the District Court award monetary damages, injunctive relief, and class certification.

On August 27, 1985, two weeks after the suit was filed, Scott County changed its strip search policy to provide that detainees would be strip searched only when reasonable suspicion existed to believe that the inmate was concealing contraband which could not be discovered through a less intrusive search. Defendant admitted that its pre-August 17, 1985 policies were unconstitutional and Plaintiff granted that the post-August 17, 1985 policies were constitutional.

On September 2, 1986, the District Court denied Plaintiff's motion for class certification and ruled that Plaintiff did not have standing to seek injunctive relief because he failed to show that he was likely to be subjected to Defendant's strip search policy in the future. On October 22-28, 1986, the case proceeded to trial on Plaintiff's individual claim. The jury returned a verdict awarding Plaintiff no damages.

Plaintiff did not appeal the jury award, but both parties filed motions seeking attorneys' fees. On January 6, 1987, the District Court (Judge Harry Hunter MacLaughlin) granted Plaintiff limited attorneys' fees and costs in the amount $1,328.75. The Court denied Scott County's motion for attorneys' fees. Swart v. Scott County, Minn., 650 F.Supp. 888 (D.Minn. 1987).

We are aware of no further proceedings in this case. Though we have no court docket, it would appear that the case is now closed.

Dan Dalton - 02/17/2008


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