Sioux City Journal

Judge denies class-action status for strip-search suit

By Dolly A. Butz, Journal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, September 06, 2008

SIOUX CITY -- A woman who filed a lawsuit over the Woodbury County Jail's former strip-search policy will not be able to include thousands of people who have been booked since 1985 in her case.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett denied Maureen Rattray's motion to certify a class-action lawsuit Tuesday.

Rattray's lawsuit is challenging the county's policy that allows jailers to strip search offenders booked into the jail. Her case is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 12, 2009.

In a memorandum opinion and order filed Tuesday, Bennett said that Rattray "failed to satisfy the specific requirements for certification" of a class-action lawsuit. He said that "the court finds little risk that the County would be subjected to incompatible standards of conduct as a result of inconsistent adjudications with respect to individual class members." He also said that "class questions do not predominate over individual questions."

Attorneys representing Rattray and Woodbury County could not be reached Friday for comment.

Rattray, of South Sioux City, was booked into the Woodbury County Jail in August 2006 on a charge of first-offense operating while intoxicated, a serious misdemeanor. In her lawsuit, she claims that jailers strip-searched her and performed two cavity searches. She said jailers kept a door open during the search and she was forced to hold a jail jumpsuit over the front of her naked body while she walked past men to her cell.

The county's policy of allowing strip searches of those arrested for serious misdemeanors and felonies violates the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures, her attorney, Jean Pendleton, of West Des Moines, said in the lawsuit, filed in February 2007 in U.S. District Court in Sioux City.

Lisa Lambert of Sedalia, Mo., filed a similar lawsuit in January 2008.

Lambert's lawsuit claims the county's policy on strip searches has since been changed and now says that anyone arrested on a simple misdemeanor shall not be strip searched unless there is suspicion that the person is concealing a weapon or contraband.

The county has denied that jailers performed a cavity search.

Story Comments

friend of victim wrote on Sep 6, 2008 7:57 PM:

" Lisa Lambert was not driving under the influence... It was a simple domestic abuse charge after she slapped her husband who had cheated on her. The search is barbaric and unjustified. Forcing this other woman to walk naked in front of men to her cell should be considered a form of pornography and these jailers should be charged accordingly. "

MADD TOO wrote on Sep 6, 2008 2:44 PM:

" I TOTALLY AGREE. "

mrb wrote on Sep 6, 2008 12:31 PM:

" I agree drunk drivers need to be removed from the raod, but let us CONVICT them BEFORE we punish them. Remember that part? Innocent until PROVEN guilty. "

MADD at these people wrote on Sep 6, 2008 10:28 AM:

" I think its about time we file a class action lawsuit against anyone like Ms. Rattray who put innocent people in needless danger because they decide to drive drunk, rather than call a cab, and put everyone else's life on the line that's on the road with them. The policy that needs to change is that these people need to stop being let off with just a little slap on the wrist minimal fine. Lets put some teeth into the OWI and DUI laws and finally stop the number of violations from increasing! "