The City of St. Louis must refund $750,400 to the 21,000 people who paid “warrant recall fees” in the past seven years. On July 19, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge David Dowd gave final approval on a class-action lawsuit settlement with the city – which also deemed that St. Louis can never charge these fees again.

In St. Louis, if you missed a court date regarding a warrant fee, the court would charge you an extra fee of $35 for the first warrant and $10 for every subsequent warrant to reschedule the court date. The plaintiff in the case, Brandon Wann, paid this fee after he got pulled over for speeding in 2013. When he arrived half an hour late for his court date, a warrant had already been issued for his arrest. To cancel the warrant and reschedule his date, Wann had to pay $55 or face jail time.

SLU Law Legal Clinics and ArchCity Defenders were also involved in bringing forth this legal settlement, which received preliminary approval in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on July 13. The team of lawyers filed the suit on February 2015, arguing that the city’s policy of locking up majority poor and African-American residents for unpaid fines is unconstitutional.

Originally, the sole purpose of bail was to ensure that the defendant appears at court, he said. The law has developed to include a consideration of the safety of the community. There is overwhelming evidence to show it is a costly practice, both in terms of the cost of pretrial detention and the cost to the community in lost wages and collateral consequences.

The City of St. Louis must refund $750,400 to the 21,000 people who paid “warrant recall fees” in the past seven years. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge David Dowd gave final approval today on a class-action lawsuit settlement with the city – which also deemed that St. Louis city can never charge these fees again.

In St. Louis city, if you missed a court date regarding a warrant fee, the court would charge you an extra fee of $35 for the first warrant and $10 for every subsequent warrant to reschedule the court date. The plaintiff in the case, Brandon Wann, paid this fee after he got pulled over for speeding in 2013. When he arrived half an hour late for his court date, a warrant had already been issued for his arrest. To cancel the warrant and reschedule his date, Wann had to pay $55 in total or face jail time.

SLU Law Clinic and Arch City Defenders was also involved in bringing forth this legal settlement, which received preliminary approval in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on July 13. The team of lawyers filed the suit on February 2015, which argued that the city’s debtor’s jail of locking up majority poor and African-American residents for unpaid fines is unconstitutional.

Originally, the sole purpose of bail was to ensure the defendant appears at court, he said. The law has developed to include a consideration of the safety of the community. There is overwhelming evidence to show it is a costly practice both in terms of the cost of pretrial detention and the cost to the community in lost wages and collateral consequences.