Suffolk County, N.Y., files voluntary disclosure after court case opponents awarded $112 million

Suffolk County, New York, in a recent filing said the Suffolk County Legislature had approved the purchase of a surety bond to stay a judgment in a case concerningdetained immigrants where a jury awarded $112 million to plaintiffs who sued the county and its sheriff's office.

"The county will file an appeal," Suffolk County said in the Dec. 1 filing posted to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's Electronic Municipal Market Access website.

The legislature approved the purchase of a surety bond on Nov. 25 after the judgment was filed with the court on Nov. 12, the EMMA filing said. The jury's verdict was unanimous, according to a Nov. 7 court filing in the case, Orellana Castaneda, et al., v. County of Suffolk and Suffolk County Sheriff's Office, et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The jury awarded $112 million to a class of 674 people who were part of the lawsuit against Suffolk County and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office, according to a Nov. 7 press release issued by LatinoJustice PRLDEF, which, along with law firm Winston & Strawn,was listed as counsel for the plaintiff in the initial complaint in the case, filed in 2017.

The case challenged Suffolk County's practice of holding people in jail after they should have been released solely for the purpose of facilitating a direct handover to federal immigration authorities, the release said.

"The jury confirmed what we have argued all along, that Suffolk County's actions trampled the basic due process rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment," Jos? P?rez, deputy general counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said in the Nov. 7 press release. "Today's verdict is justice served and our [clients'] courage ensures these types of abuses will hopefully not be repeated."

The verdict in the trial followed a January ruling by U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz II that Suffolk County's practice of holding individuals solely for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ? also known as ICE ? violated the plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution and their rights under the New York State Constitution, Andrew Case, supervising counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said in a Dec. 2 interview.

"The jury's decision applied to two outstanding issues in the case ? whether Suffolk County also violated class members' 14th Amendment procedural due process rights by failing to notify detainees why they were being held beyond their lawful release dates and the damages owed for those who were deprived of their liberty," the release said.

According to a verdict sheet filed Nov. 7, the jury awarded the plaintiffs $75 million in compensatory damages for the violations of their Fourth Amendment rights and New York State constitutional rights.

The jury also found that the plaintiffs had proven that they were not provided with adequate procedural due process in connection with their detention, according to the verdict sheet, which indicated that the jury had awarded the plaintiffs $37 million for damages caused by the violations of the plaintiffs' procedural due process rights.

In its filing, Suffolk County described the EMMA filing as an "additional/voluntary filing" that "does not concern an event described in Securities and Exchange Act Rule 15c2-12, as amended." The county is providing the filing "as it may be relevant to the financial evaluation of the county's outstanding obligations," the Dec. 1 filing said.

"By providing this additional/voluntary filing, the county does not undertake to provide future voluntary filings on EMMA to update such information nor does the county undertake to provide additional/voluntary filings with respect to other matters that do not concern an event described in the rule," the filing said.

Still, Suffolk County Comptroller John M. Kennedy, Jr., in a Dec. 2 interview said the county strives to "maintain the utmost in transparency" and ensure that information is readily available to investors.

"Suffolk County takes disclosure seriously," Kennedy said. "I am in my eleventh year, and we have throughout my time always strived to be very forthcoming and over-inclusive if you will."