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This settlement is closed!
Please see what other class action settlements you might qualify to claim cash from in our Open Settlements directory!
UPDATE 7:
- This class action settlement is paying out $451 in a second round of payments.
UPDATE 6:
- Readers reported this settlement paying out more than $400 as of Jan. 26, 2022.
- Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!
UPDATE 5:
- The settlement will become effective Nov. 3, 2021.
- First payments are expected to be issued in two to three months.
- Let Top Class Actions know when you receive a check in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
UPDATE 4:
- According to the settlement website, the Supreme Court petition will not be decided until October 2021 or later.
- Settlement payments will remain on hold until the petition for review is resolved.
UPDATE 3:
- On May 13, 2021, an objector filed a petition seeking review of the settlement by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- The settlement will not become effective until after the review request is decided.
- Top Class Actions will continue to provide case updates as they become available.
UPDATE 2:
- On Sept. 10, 2020, an appeal to the L.A. Women’s Jail Strip Search Class Action Settlement was filed.
- Claims will not be paid until all appeals are exhausted.Â
- We appreciate your ongoing patience. Top Class Actions will continue to provide updates as we learn more. Â
UPDATE:
- The L.A. Women’s Jail Strip Search Class Action Settlement was granted final approval Aug. 11, 2020.
- Let Top Class Actions know when you receive a check in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
The County of Los Angeles has agreed to pay a total of $53 million to settle class action allegations that women inmates were subject to degrading strip searches while entering or returning to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, Calif.
The settlement represents the largest payout in the county’s history.
The Lynwood strip search settlement website notes that Class Members include those who were subjected to a strip search in a group outside of the bus garage while entering or returning from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Lynwood Jail between March 5, 2008 and Jan. 31, 2015.Â
Lead plaintiffs claimed that thousands of inmates were subjected to unnecessary and violating strip searches. Plaintiff Jessica Almaraz alleged that she was strip searched a total of five times during her time at the Sheriff Department’s Century Regional Detention Facility.
According to the female inmates, women were often strip searched in groups. They say that they were forced to take off their clothes and be invasively strip searched in front of other women. Allegedly, deputies degraded them and yelled profanity during these searches.
The plaintiffs claim that this treatment violated their Fourth Amendment rights.
Eligible Class Members will be able to receive at least $200 for one strip search, while those who experienced numerous strip searches are likely to end up with thousands of dollars.
Inmates must complete and return a Claim Form to receive monetary recovery. According to the strip search class action, qualifying individuals should have received a Claim Form in the mail. Class Members may also compete a Claim Form online.Â
Class Members can exclude themselves from the settlement, or object to it by June 4, 2020. Those who excluded themselves from the settlement retain their right to pursue independent litigation over the strip searches, but waive their rights to claim benefits from this settlement.
Former inmates who do nothing will receive no benefits, and waive their rights to pursue independent litigation.Â
Class Members can also attend the final approval hearing on July 20, 2020, in which a judge will decide whether or not the settlement will be approved.
Who’s Eligible
Individuals who were subjected to a strip search in a group outside of the bus garage while entering or returning from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Lynwood Jail between March 5, 2008 and Jan. 31, 2015.Â
Potential Award
At least $200 and up to thousands of dollars.
No Class Member who files a claim will receive less than $200 (for one search under the least bad conditions). Persons with the highest number of searches – up to 50 – will likely receive thousands of dollars.
Proof of Purchase
N/A
Claim Form
NOTE:Â If you do not qualify for this settlement do NOT file a claim.
Remember: you are submitting your claim under penalty of perjury. You are also harming other eligible Class Members by submitting a fraudulent claim. If you’re unsure if you qualify, please read the FAQ section of the Settlement Administrator’s website to ensure you meet all standards (Top Class Actions is not a Settlement Administrator). If you don’t qualify for this settlement, check out our database of other open class action settlements you may be eligible for.
Claim Form Deadline
6/4/2020
Case Name
Mary Amador, et al. v. Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, et al., Case No. 2:10-cv-01649-SVW-JEM, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
Final Hearing
7/20/2020
Settlement Website
Claims Administrator
Lynwood Strip Search Settlement
c/o JND Legal Administration
PO Box 91070
Seattle, WA 98111
info@LynwoodStripSearch.com
1-855-233-1237
Class Counsel
Barrett S. Litt
Lindsay Battles
KAYE McLAN BEDNARSKI & LITT
DONALD COOK ATTORNEY AT LAW
Colleen Flynn
LAW OFFICES OF COLLEEN FLYNN
Cynthia Anderson-Barker
LAW OFFICES OF CYNTHIA ANDERSON-BARKER
Defense Counsel
Andrew Baum
GLASER WEIL
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330 thoughts onL.A. Women’s Jail Strip Search Class Action Settlement
Yes between 2008- 2015 I was strip searched out in the back where they load you on the bus to be transported to court. Before court and after I was stripped in front of other female inmates and male co’s it’s was embarrassing and Humiliating and I will never forget how I was treated like an animal at the Lynwood Sheriff Station
Yes me to it was cold and humiliating, i was on my period touching my mouth with same fingers i touched my parts with thats degrading and disgusting
Myself and the other inmates were strip searched in the kitchen! There was a man deputy present at the time.. I can’t begin to even remember how many times I was strip searched at Lynwood..I was there for eight months. I felt violated at every strip search. No one should ever have to go through this.
They put me back in the holding cell for hours because I didn’t want to put my face on that dirty ass wall after females had their body parts against it. Tried to humiliate me and make an example out of me. They issued a warrant for my arrest while I was in their facility and all kinds of stuff they kept leading back to these strip searches. Ugh I hated them for it and still do.
I meant to say HerMan coward pion deputy’s that were btches
I hope you ladies get compensated for the wrong that was done to you. Thank you for bringing this out into the open and shedding a spot light on the situation.
I meant to say HerMan coward pion deputy’s that were btches
It happen to me in 2015 when it was raining outside and the buses we’re bringing inmates to drop off, the driver was a male and I remember wondering what we were doing outside in the rain . Then when the C0 told everyone to stand against the wall facing the bus in a line i was “What the +***. Your kidding right, No they were not. As the other ladies said we were instructed to remove clothing, down to our birthday suits and yes bend over pull your private and cough while the CO slowly walked by laughing at some of the ladies and making rude comments. It was freezing, degrading, embarrassing. I felt violated to the fullest. When everyone was cooperating we we’re able to get dressed. Wrong
Im Ronisha one of the many victims, during the search I felt really humiliated and violated. They would line us up against the a wall with other women and make us bend over and spread open our private areas and cough and hold it open while they checked. If someone did it wrong they would make us start over. I felt very embarrassed and ashamed and the verbal abuse they used on us didn’t make me feel any better. This was in the Los Angeles California detention center on Imperial.
Yes very very humiliating for each n everyone of us and yes I never understood on why every dam time you gotta go to court when you get back to lynwood there making you cough and squat and what I thought was very fukin wierd is why did the officers always want your court paper you got from court they would take it from you and rip it . Why? Did the officers care so much about a piece of paper that had date time and court house you were going to your case #and violation codes… Maybe some one could put a comment in response to why it was so important for them to collect that paper from each one of us and throw em out and if you just happened to leave it on the bus they would look up in everyone of your crevices looking for that paper those officers were really wierd to me… Expecially when it was that time of month some of them would really degrade us make us take out r tampon still having to squat with kegs open all the way down and making us cough several times and blood would be on the floor r goin down the ladies leg and those fukin officers would start talking shiit to the others about the girls blood and shiit, knowing dam well what would happen whn you make a woman in her menstrual remove there tampon but still they would degrade that person single em out… They would have so many of us back from court getting stripped out together I mean we were actually so crowded that I’d say maybe 6 inch’s to if your luck a foot in between each other bending over coughing I mean keep it real I could have easily turned my head to the left or right and could have been able to see the girls next to me privates you Kno and this is being str8 up honest … But I’m sure we all went threw the same thing so we gave each other that lil respect that the officers were unable to give and we kept or eyes on the wall and didn’t look at one another … I wanted to say I do appreciate the attorney the judge and the woman who got this up and started its about time those officers that work at lynwood facility get put out there publicly on how they were conducting there strip searches each and Everytime you come back from court even if your fighting your case for months and months and haven’t left the facility didn’t matter u get stripped Everytime they take you to court and bring you back … Crazy ugly and sad times….
I do know that the collection of the papers that you are speaking of that have something to do with this lawsuit it is documented time date and the actual occurrence of the Court lightning ritual
Thank you for sharing I would of never thought of that
They traeadad me bad.lock me in the room went I need to see the doctor for my sick cell and high blood pressure.
I’m sorry I can’t remember how many times between 2008 & 2015 I got stripped searched in the bus parking I know for a fact at least 4 times because they strip search you when you come back from court, I don’t know why they do that it seemed like everytime we turned around we were getting strip searched. It’s degrading, I thought it must be legal because they’ve always done these kinds of searches all the way back to the early 90’s in Sybil brand, twin towers & lynwood. It always stank & we were outside in the cold & sometimes rain.