Town of Valley Brook, Public Officials Hit with Class Action in Oklahoma Over Alleged ‘Debtors’ Prison’

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Three plaintiffs allege Valley Brook, Oklahoma and several public officials have unlawfully perpetuated what amounts to the “contemporary equivalent” of a debtors’ prison by jailing or threatening with jail time those who cannot afford to pay money for traffic tickets or other minor offenses. 

The 47-page amended putative class action against Valley Brook, its municipal court, Mayor Lewis Nieman, Municipal Judge Stephen Haynes, Valley Brook Chief of Police Michael Stamp and the Valley Brook Police Department alleges citizens’ constitutional due process and equal protection rights have been violated solely due to their inability to pay court-imposed fines, costs, fees or restitution. 

From the complaint: 

“In each case, Plaintiffs explained to Valley Brook Municipal Judge Stephen Haynes, a municipal official, or a Valley Brook employee that they could not pay fines, fees, and costs … for minor offenses. But they were ignored. The Valley Brook Municipal Court did not afford them a lawyer, inquire into their ability to pay, or consider reasonable payment alternatives, as required by federal and state law. Instead, a municipal judge and other officials and employees threatened Plaintiffs, detained them, and instructed them to contact loved ones for money to avoid imprisonment. When it became apparent that Plaintiffs could not access funds, Valley Brook sent them to Oklahoma County jail.”

No state may punish an individual over their inability to afford to pay judicially imposed fines, the lawsuit argues. According to the complaint, each plaintiff was arrested by the Valley Brook Police Department for minor municipal offenses and sent to Oklahoma County jail for days as a result of their inability to pay an “arbitrary amount” for release. Two of the plaintiffs, after appearing before Judge Haynes, were re-jailed solely because they could not pay their fines in full, while the third plaintiff was “coerced” into paying in full to avoid imprisonment, the lawsuit says. 

“None of the Plaintiffs, at any relevant stage of their municipal proceedings, received a meaningful inquiry into their ability to pay fines for municipal offenses, as required by federal and state law,” the case alleges. 

The plaintiffs say that although Oklahoma courts have implemented procedural rules to specifically prevent incarceration or the threat of incarceration over an individual’s inability to pay fines, “neither Valley Brook, nor its municipal judge, officials or employees follow these [r]ules.” According to the lawsuit, the Valley Brook Municipal Court “rarely” looks into an individual’s ability to pay, let alone offers to record hearings, before it imposes fines or jail time or threatens jail time. 

“Instead, municipal officials and employees—through their conduct, decisions, rules, policies and practices—have implemented a debt-collection scheme that flouts procedural protections to raise revenue from Oklahoma’s poorest residents,” the case alleges.

Per the suit, the defendants’ allegedly unconstitutional debt collection methods have been in place for “many years.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege the Valley Brook Police Department and Chief Stamp have enabled Valley Brook to collect “an inordinate amount of fine revenue” by stopping individuals for minor violations and searching them without legal justification; taking arrestees to the Valley Brook Police Station and informing them they can only be released upon payment of an “arbitrary” amount; transferring anyone who can’t pay to the Oklahoma County Jail and arranging for individuals to be held in jail for days until the next weekly court hearing in Valley Brook without any judicial appearance. 

From there, the role played by Valley Brook municipal officials revolves around reviewing requests for payment relief from proposed class members who cannot pay and then recommending and/or directing how Valley Brook should handle those requests, according to the suit. Valley Brook Mayor Neiman “frequently negotiates” with municipal defendants, their families and the city attorney to determine how much needs to be paid to avoid incarceration, the case claims.

The lawsuit looks to cover four distinct classes comprised of: 

• All persons who currently owe or will incur debts to Valley Brook from fines, fees, costs, or surcharges arising from cases in the Valley Brook Municipal Court;
• All persons who were either jailed, or threatened with jail and coerced into making a full payment, without receiving a hearing or other meaningful inquiry into ability to pay by the Valley Brook Municipal Court;
• All persons who were stopped by the Valley Brook Police Department for a municipal violation and had their vehicle searched without reasonable suspicion, probable cause or voluntary consent; and
• All persons who were stopped by the Valley Brook Police Department for a municipal violation and were jailed for an indefinite period of time without judicial process. 

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