Shirley Freeman v. County of Riverside- Notice of Class Action Settlement

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Announcement - Final Approval Hearing

Thursday, May 18, 2023, at 8:30 AM
Department 1 of the Riverside Historic Courthouse
4050 Main Street, Riverside, CA 92501.

If you disagree with the settlement or do not want to be part of it, you must send a form to the Settlement Administrator postmarked no later than March 23, 2023.

Shirley Freeman v. County of Riverside challenges the collection of detention fees

Shirley Freeman v. County of Riverside is a class action lawsuit that challenges Riverside County’s policies and practices of charging and collecting detention fees from parents and guardians with a child in the juvenile justice system. The lawsuit, filed in March 2020, claims that Riverside County did not follow California law (Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 903 and 903.45) when it charged and collected detention fees from parents and guardians. The lawsuit also claims that Riverside County’s collection practices violated parents’ and guardians' constitutional due process rights.

Riverside County denies it did anything wrong but has agreed to settle the lawsuit. Under the proposed Settlement, Riverside County will pay $540,307.00 to refund class members for a portion of the detention fees collected. Class members are parents and guardians who made payments or had their tax refund taken or wages garnished from December 21, 2016, to April 21, 2020, for detention fees charged by Riverside County. If the Settlement is approved, class members will receive a refund of a portion of their payments to Riverside County. All participating class members will receive a minimum payment of $25.00.

The Court granted preliminary approval of the Settlement and ordered the distribution of class notice (see below) on January 13, 2023. The Court will decide final approval of the Settlement at the fairness hearing on May 18, 2023. Parents and guardians who believe they might be members of the class action entitled to relief under the Settlement should read the notice to class members for important information about the Settlement, forms, and deadlines.

Scroll down or click here to read the notice to class members.
*Class Members will receive this notice in the mail. If you did not receive this notice in the mail and you believe that you are a Class Member, you should contact the Settlement Administrator.

If you have questions, you can contact any of the following people:

Settlement Administrator

Rust Consulting, Inc.
www.riversidejuvenilefees.com
(833) 472-1997 (Toll-Free Phone Number)

Freeman v Riverside Settlement Administrator
c/o Rust Consulting Inc., -7737
PO Box 2599
Faribault, MN 55021-9599

Class Counsel

National Center for Youth Law

Hong Le (English)
(510) 214-3408
hle@youthlaw.org

National Center for Youth Law
Attn: Hong Le
1212 Broadway, Suite 600
Oakland, CA 94602

Western Center on Law & Poverty

Rebecca Miller (Spanish)
(213) 235-2642
rmiller@wclp.org

Western Center on Law & Poverty
Attn: Rebecca Miller
3701 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 208
Los Angeles, CA 90010