Felons Can Serve as Named Plaintiff, Judge Rules, Certifies Class of Jail Detainees
Per BNA's Class Action Litigation Report, 11/14/2008:
A federal judge in Chicago granted class certification in a case focusing on the Cook County Jail's procedures for distributing prescription drugs to inmates, after rejecting the defendant's adequacy-of-representation argument that asserted felons cannot serve as class representatives (Parish v. Sheriff of Cook County, N.D. Ill., No. 07 CV 4369, 10/24/08).
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois Oct. 24 certified a class of current and former inmates confined to the Cook County Jail who were denied prescribed drug therapies by the facility.
In so ruling, Kennelly refused to accept the county's assertion that the individual plaintiffs lacked credibility, due to their felony backgrounds, and could not serve as class representatives.
posted by A. Benjamin Spencer @ 12:09 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Excellent reasoning, excellent ruling. Strip away the presumptive stigma and we see that a felon can have as much interest in the fair representation of a class as any non-felon. In addition, the interests of the class are protected (presumptively) by the attorney representing the class representative.
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