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• BRIAN KRIEGLER: RECENT CASES
Craft, et al. v. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
The plaintiffs in this case were a group of inmates at San Bernardino County’s detention facilities who contested that certain individuals were denied their fourth amendment rights while in custody, in that full body cavity searches conducted by the Sheriff’s Department were: a) in group settings; b) on individuals who had not yet been arraigned and had no drug, weapon, or violence charges; and c) on individuals who already had been ordered released. Brian Kriegler was retained by counsel for the plaintiffs to identify which individuals fit into each of these categories. Using the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s database, Dr. Kriegler and his staff used statistical and computational programs to evaluate nearly 400,000 bookings, concluding that there were approximately 160,000 individuals and 337,000 bookings qualifying for class membership. This case settled for $25.5 million in 2008.
Fairfield v. Advantage Rent-A-Car
In this wage and hour class action, the plaintiffs were a group of Advantage Rent-A-Car hourly employees who contested that they were not correctly compensated for overtime and missed meal breaks. Brian Kriegler was retained by counsel for the plaintiffs to determine the class size. He recommended a sampling procedure for examining employees’ punch card and pay stub records so that the class size (number of people and number of hours) could be estimated. Using probabilistic and statistical analyses, Dr. Kriegler estimated: a) the number of work periods that did not accurately reflect the actual number of hours worked; b) the number of work periods for which employees were not compensated appropriately according to State law; and c) the number of individuals in the class. He gave deposition testimony to support his sampling methodology and analytical results. This case settled for $2.5 million in 2008.
Bynum v. District of Columbia
In this civil rights class action, the plaintiffs were a group of inmates at the District of Columbia’s jail who claimed that: a) certain individuals were held past the date on which they were entitled to be released; and b) certain inmates were subjected to full body cavity searches after being court-ordered released. Brian Kriegler was retained by counsel for the plaintiffs to analyze the District of Columbia’s jail and court databases, and to estimate the number of unlawful strip searches and over detainees, as well as the lengths of over detention. Dr. Kriegler’s research, which included the use of statistical programming and cross-referencing multiple databases, uncovered that there were approximately 25,000 individuals over detained and/or searched post release. This case settled for approximately $12 million in 2006.
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