FLICKR/PAUL SABLEMAN
Maplewood was accused of running a debtors' prison in a long-running class action lawsuit that settled this week.
The City of Maplewood will pay out $3.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it ran a debtors' prison — which includes $1 million in legal fees for ArchCity Defenders, the nonprofit law firm that filed the class-action suit in 2016, and the two firms assisting it.
That's according to an order filed in federal court Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Catherine D. Perry.
In addition to its own fees and those of Tycko & Zavareei LLP and Keane Law LLC, ArchCity Defenders says the payout will be distributed among the more than 7,000 people jailed by the St. Louis suburb and the 20,000 people who paid fines and fees from 2011 to 2021.
The large size of the class means individual payouts will average just $77 each, with named plaintiffs receiving $7,500 each. But ArchCity suggests the litigation has already led to big changes in Maplewood.
Since the lawsuit was filed, it says, Maplewood’s municipal court revenue has decreased 64 percent, with the number of tickets issued suffering an even bigger percentage decrease in 2022.
“For years, the City of Maplewood wrote thousands of tickets to raise millions of dollars in revenue,” Nathaniel Carroll, senior staff attorney at ArchCity Defenders, said in a statement. “Plaintiffs alleged that the City would either use jail or the prospect of jail to get money from people who were ticketed in the form of exorbitant fines and bonds, with little to no legal process. This resulted in poor people, and mostly Black people, who were jailed for days at a time until Maplewood had extorted as much money as possible from them.”
The suit contained examples of people who'd been ticketed for minor infractions, only to spend days in jail — and sometimes weeks — for their inability to pay.
Maplewood fought hard to get the suit thrown out of court, appealing to the 8th circuit court of appeals and claiming sovereign immunity. The appellate court rejected that argument.
While north county suburbs like Ferguson gained a national reputation for extorting and policing their residents, ArchCity suggested in filing the litigation that Maplewood had an equally big problem — one with a disparate impact on Black residents. “Poor people and people of color have known about Maplewood’s policies for years,” then-Executive Director Thomas Harvey said in 2016. “Our clients say Maplewood’s police and court practices have prohibited them from driving through, shopping, and even living in Maplewood.”
Under the terms of the settlement, Maplewood did not admit any wrongdoing or liability.
People who were subjected to Maplewood's fines or served jail time can learn more at maplewoodclassaction.com or by calling 1-888-477-1779.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story erred in explaining the legal fees earned by ArchCity and two other firms. They are part of Maplewood's $3.25 million payout, not in addition to it. We regret the error.
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