March 28, 2015
Craft, et al. v. San Bernardino County Sheriff
The plaintiffs were a group of inmates at San Bernardino County’s detention facilities who contested that certain individuals were denied their fourth amendment rights while in custody, in that full body cavity searches conducted by the Sheriff’s Department were: (1) in group settings; (2) on individuals who had not yet been arraigned and had no drug, weapon, or violence charges; and (3) on individuals who already had been ordered released.
Brian Kriegler (prior to joining Econ One) was retained by counsel for the plaintiffs to identify which individuals fit into each of these categories. Using the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s database, Dr. Kriegler used statistical and computational programs to evaluate nearly 400,000 bookings, concluding that there were approximately 160,000 individuals and 337,000 bookings qualifying for class membership. The case settled for $25.5 million.
