St. Ann agrees to $3.125 million settlement over excessive fees and fines

ST. ANN, Mo. (KMOV) - The City of St. Ann has settled a “debtors’ prison” lawsuit over allegations the town excessively inflated its coffers by unconstitutionally jailing people to extract fines and fees.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Pitlyk on Tuesday approved the agreement between plaintiffs Quinton Thomas and Meridith Walker and defendant City of St. Ann. Under the terms of the agreement, about 35,000 people who were jailed between Aug. 9, 2011 and Nov. 14, 2022 will share the $3.125 million settlement.

The city will also forgive all fines and fees related to municipal violations between August 2011 and December 2014. A settlement administrator will contact via U.S. Mail anyone included in the class, according to the agreement. Anyone affected can also visit stannclassaction.com for more information.

The lawsuit was one of seven against towns in St. Louis County brought by civil rights law firm ArchCity Defenders, alleging police and court practices served to pad municipal budgets while disregarding constitutional protections.

Those lawsuits were filed following the Aug. 9, 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson and an ensuing Department of Justice investigation which showed that city had for years added to its revenue through excessive fines and fees.

So far, lawsuits against Jennings, Normandy, Edmundson and Maplewood have been settled, according to an ArchCity Defenders news release. With the most recent settlement by St. Ann, about $12 million in damages has been awarded. Class actions against Florissant and Ferguson are pending.

In the complaint against St. Ann, plaintiffs argued the city enforced a “predatory scheme,” which trapped people already facing financial difficulties defendants in a cycle of spiraling court fines and fees over minor offenses.

When those cited by St. Ann Police could not or did not pay, arrest warrants were issued, jailing people sometimes for a week or more without a court appearance. Those “failure to pay” or “failure to appear” warrants are auto-generated by a computer program with no judicial oversight, according to the complaint.

Once detained on a failure to pay or appear warrant, defendants could pay the entire amount owned or were held in jail for an “indeterminant” period until the balance on any fines and fees was paid.

ArchCity Defenders said in the release St. Ann municipal court revenue in 2015 was more than $3.1 million. Since the filing of the litigation, the amount has dropped 93%, to about $96,181 in 2022.