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In August 2002, the District Court entered a consent decree
in petitioner’s class action lawsuit. The consent decree granted
declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief to petitioner and
the other named plaintiffs. Petitioner, his wife’s estate,3 and
his children received a total of $350,000 in monetary relief, to
be allocated as agreed among them. The consent decree also
established a fund for the purpose of making distributions to
unnamed plaintiffs who submitted qualified claims.
Pursuant to the decree, six factors are to be considered in
determining the amount of compensation due to unnamed qualified
claimants. Those six factors are: (1) The number of citations
or threats received; (2) the degree of coercion expressed in the
citation or threat or other communication from the county to the
claimant; (3) whether the claimant left the dwelling in question
because of the citation or threat; (4) the nature and degree of
emotional distress suffered, including whether the claimant
provided evidence of any physical symptoms of emotional distress,
or other special circumstances which increased the emotional
distress; (5) whether the claimant provided evidence of any
increased costs resulting from the loss of housing, including,
but not limited to, increased cost of alternative housing, wages
and other income lost during the time spent looking for
3 Petitioner’s wife died in 2000, and her estate was
substituted as a party in the class action lawsuit.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007