Local law firm Tighe Patton Armstrong Teasdale will move forward with class-action suits against the Metropolitan Police Department and the District’s prosecutors’ office for their handling of underage possession of alcohol cases.
An Oct. 6, 2003 decision by the D.C. Court of Appeals said that underage possession of alcohol could only be charged in civil, not criminal, courts, but Metro has continued to arrest students for it and the District of Columbia’s Office of Corporation Council continue to prosecute, according to Carol Bruce Elder, a partner at the law firm that filed the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of anyone who has been “unlawfully and wrongfully arrested, frisked and/or subjected to search and seizure, handcuffed, transported, detained, fingerprinted, photographed, booked and prosecuted” since April 17, 1997, the firm said in a Jan. 14 press release.
The statement further said that the District is “unlawfully prosecuting underage possession violations as criminal offenses – creating criminal records for a civil offense.”
While one class-action suit was dismissed by D.C. Superior Court on Jan. 28, Tighe Patton has said they will appeal the ruling while expanding the number of lawsuits filed against the District.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly dismissed the case without prejudice arguing that the lawsuit fell outside of the court’s jurisdiction.
Tighe Patton has said they plan on using several alternatives in addition to appealing the ruling. A new case in Superior Court is being filed both to stop any further arrests from taking place and to argue for the monetary damages of those already arrested.
“We understand that the police are just as aggressive as ever in making arrests of underage possessors of alcohol,” the firm said in a Feb. 2 briefing. “Young people have a duty to comply with the law. If they don’t agree with the current drinking age laws, they should lobby to change the law, not disobey it.”
The firm warned that “until we receive a favorable ruling in one or both of our class-action cases,” college students could still be arrested and charged criminally for underage possession of alcohol.
In 1998, Georgetown student Brett Cass was arrested for underage possession at which time a series of appeals began, concluding with a July 31, 2003, decision by the District’s Court of Appeals that underage possession carries with it only civil penalties. On October 6, 2003, the Cass decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals, and a recent request to have the case reheard was denied.
The new lawsuit named the District of Columbia’s Office of Corporation Counsel, which is the party responsible for bringing minor criminal charges, as one of the defendants.
District courts have been dismissing all criminal charges for underage possession since July, based on the Cass case.
Still, even with charges dismissed, the firm says that, “the arrested persons, mostly students, will continue to have arrest and court records bearing their names for the rest of their lives unless this lawsuit is successful.”
The legal penalty for possession is a civil fine of no more than $300 and a possible suspension of driving privileges.
“Every arrest and prosecution for an underage possession violation since the underage drinking law was amended in 1997, was illegal,” the class-action suit reads. “And every person who was arrested and prosecuted for an underage drinking violation since 1997 – even if his/her case was ultimately dismissed – is entitled to monetary damages and should have their arrest and prosecution records expunged.”
The lawsuit also seeks injunctions against the police and prosecutors to prevent them from continuing to arrest and process underage possession charges.
Elder said she plans to use fictitious names in order to protect any plaintiffs involved in the case, and said she is looking specifically for local college students arrested for underage possession to come forward in the suit at no expense of their own.
A confidential questionnaire can be found on tighepatton.com allowing students to add their names.
“We already have representative students from George Washington University and American University. We would like to add students from Georgetown, Howard, Catholic, Trinity and Gallaudet Universities and from the University of the District of Columbia,” Elder said in a press release.