U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman Thursday approved a $1.5 million settlement for plaintiffs illegally strip-searched while held for minor offenses at the Burlington jail.

Noel Hillman

The federal judge's ruling affects a class of about 14,000 people, but confirmed claimants so far could each get a $400 award for being subjected to mandatory strip searches at the jail.

The named plaintiffs and class members were held on nonindictable charges, such as not paying fines. They say they were forced to remove their clothing for searches under a policy carried out prior to arraignment or before defendants have an opportunity to post bail. They allege the jail's practice is degrading, unreasonable, had lasting traumatic effects, and violated their rights under New Jersey law and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“The plaintiffs were gratified by the result,” said Haddonfield attorney William Riback, one of three lawyers for class representatives Tammy Marie Haas and Conrad Szczpaniak.

Hillman's ruling ends years of litigation, dating back to 2008, when Haas first filed suit alleging civil rights violations under federal and New Jersey law.

Szczpaniak filed his class action complaint about a year later, in December 2009, in the Superior Court of New Jersey. His case was then transferred to federal court, but a judge stayed the litigation for about two years, pending the outcome of a similar case, Florence v. Burlington County. The court then consolidated Haas and Szczpaniak's complaints in 2012.

Related story: Strip Searches at Camden Jail Prompt Class Suit

The suit is one of at least two against New Jersey jails.

In July, plaintiff Isrel Dillard filed a lawsuit on behalf of a proposed class of detainees strip-searched at the Camden County Correctional Facility. His pending suit claimed officers arrested him on a warrant for past-due child support. But before he could go before a judge or confirm the validity of the charge, Dillard said jail staff had him strip naked and subjected him to a cavity search.

And here's the rub: Dillard claimed officials later determined the court had issued the warrant in error. He left jail two days later.

In Haas and Szczpaniak's case, Hillman weighed four filings in the suit against Burlington County, Warden Ronald Cox and Burlington County Correctional Facility. He considered motions for final approval of the settlement, an incentive award for the named plaintiffs and two motions for court costs and attorney fees.

The litigants had executed a settlement agreement in October 2017, months before the court certified the class in April 2018. They had proposed a $50,000 award for Haas and another $30,000 for Szczpaniak as class representatives, a request Hillman granted in his Jan. 31 decision approving the settlement paid by Burlington County and its insurer.

Class counsel had also moved for approval of $925,000 in attorney fees and a maximum $300,000 payment for the court-appointed class administrator, Strategic Claim Services. Hillman granted the payment to the class administrator, but sent all attorney-fee requests back to the assigned magistrate judge for further mediation.

Plaintiffs lawyer David J. Novack, a shareholder at Budd Larner in Short Hills, New Jersey, referred a request for comment to fellow court-appointed co-class counsel Carl D. Poplar, who did not respond by press time. And defense counsel, Evan H.C. Crook of Capehart & Scatchard in Trenton, New Jersey, did not immediately respond.

Read Hillman's Full Opinion: