If you received a Los Angeles gang injunction before February 20, 2013, you might be eligible to enjoy the benefits paid out of a class action settlement. A judge granted final approval for the Los Angeles gang injunction class action settlement on March 24, 2017.
The class action settlement stems from allegations that the city of Los Angeles violated the constitutional rights of more than 5,000 residents by ordering a curfew that targeted alleged gang members. City leaders promoted the curfew as a strategy to combat the escalating gang violence occurring in several Los Angeles neighborhoods.
According to court documents, the injunctions allegedly included a legal requirement that residents were not allowed to leave their homes during the period specified by the Los Angeles Police Department. The only exception to the curfew was the allowance for “legitimate meetings or entertainment activities.” A California appellate court ruled the provisions written for the Los Angeles gang curfew violated the Constitution of California.
The primary plaintiffs asserted in the class action lawsuit that the unclear legal language establishing the curfews allowed law enforcement officials to interpret the language loosely. Numerous complaints against law enforcement actions of random harassment and discrimination prompted the filing of the Los Angeles injunction class action lawsuit. Most of the complaints charge LA police with singling out a disproportionate number of blacks and Latinos.
After the arrests of Alberto Cararez and Christian Rodriguez in 2009, several plaintiffs worked with class counsel to file the class action lawsuit. The two men lived in an injunction zone and allegedly left the injunction zone during curfew. However, the court denounced the unconstitutional nature of the curfews nearly two years before the arrest of Rodriguez and Cararez.
Terms of the class action settlement require the defendants to set up a $30 fund to compensate eligible class members. Other benefits eligible class members enjoy include the creation of job training programs and the establishment of a process that removes LA residents from the injunction list.
What You Need To Know About The Los Angeles Gang Curfew Injunction Class Action Settlement
According to class counsel, eligible class members of the Los Angeles injunction class action settlement include anyone who has “been served with one or more of the gang injunctions issued prior to Feb. 20, 2013.” The lengthy list of gang injunctions appears on the class action settlement website www.GangCase.net. Class members who meet the criteria for a job and education program can receive $1,000 if they meet specified requirements. Eligible class members also have earned the right to collaborate in a project that writes new rules for the Los Angeles Police Department to follow.
Qualifying class members have until August 14, 2020 to submit a valid claim form. Class counsel reminds eligible class members the funds distribute on a first come, first serve basis, which means it is in your best interest to submit your claim form promptly. The judge who granted final approval of the class action settlement held the final hearing on December 2, 2016. Discovered what happened at the final hearing by visiting the class action settlement website.
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