Trial News

After Bucks County, Pa., launched an inmate lookup tool on its website, the criminal histories of nearly 66,800 individuals who had been booked into the county correctional facility between 1938 and 2013 were made public.

Daryoush Taha brought a class action lawsuit against the county, alleging that it violated Pennsylvania’s Criminal History Record Information Act by unlawfully disseminating his reported criminal history. The court granted summary judgment to the plaintiff, finding that the inmate lookup tool violated the statute. The court also certified the case as a class action for trial.

The jury awarded $1,000 in punitive damages to each class member.

Citation: Taha v. Bucks Cnty., No. 12-6867 (E.D. Pa. May 28, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: Theodore Schaer, AAJ member Jonathan Shub, Alan Denenberg, Robert LaRocca, Zahra Dean, and Aarthi Manohar, all of Philadelphia.

Plaintiff experts: Richard Subia, corrections policies and procedures, Chandler, Ariz.; Sarah Lageson, public stigma, Newark, N.J.