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Hardeman - Long Form Notice
Hardeman - Long Form Notice
• Former inmates have sued Lake County, alleging violations of their constitutional rights.
• The Court has allowed the lawsuit to be a class action on behalf of all people incarcerated before
or after trial in the Lake County Adult Correctional Facility between November 8-10, 2017.
• The Court has not decided whether Lake County did anything wrong. There is no money available
now, and no guarantee there will be. However, your legal rights are affected, and you have a choice
to make now:
Get out of this lawsuit. Get no benefits from it. Keep rights.
ASK TO BE If you ask to be excluded and money or benefits are later awarded, you
EXCLUDED won’t share in those. But, you keep any rights to sue separately about
the same legal claims in this lawsuit.
• Your options are explained in this notice. To ask to be excluded, you must act before April 23,
2021.
• Lawyers must prove the claims against Lake County. If money or benefits are obtained from Lake
County, you will be notified about how to ask for a share.
More information about why the Court is allowing this lawsuit to be a class action is in the Court’s
Order Certifying the Class, which is available at www.koconnorlaw.com.
The Court hasn’t decided whether Lake County or the Plaintiffs are correct. By establishing the Class
and issuing this notice, the Court is not suggesting that the Plaintiffs will win or lose this case. The
Plaintiffs may have to prove their claims at a trial, but as of now no trial has been scheduled. (See “The
Trial” below on page 7.)
The Plaintiffs are asking for money for harms caused by the water shutoff and Lake County’s treatment
of inmates between November 8-10, 2017. No money or benefits are available now because the
Court has not decided whether Lake County did anything wrong, and the two sides have not
settled the case. There is no guarantee that money or benefits ever will be obtained. If they are,
you will be notified about how to ask for a share.
No money or benefits are available now because the Court has not yet decided whether Lake
County did anything wrong, and the two sides have not settled the case. There is no guarantee that
money or benefits ever will be obtained. If they are, you will be notified about how to ask for a
share.
Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman decided that all people who were incarcerated by Lake County (pretrial
QUESTIONS ? VISIT WWW.KOCONNORLAW.COM.
or after a conviction) at any time from November 8-10, 2017, are Class Members. Currently
incarcerated individuals are in the Class as long as they were incarcerated in the Lake County Adult
Correctional Facility any time between November 8-10, 2017. In other words, these people are
included:
◼ People who were being held before trial in the Lake County Adult Correctional
Facility that were present in the facility during the water shutoff in November 2017.
◼ People who were serving sentences for criminal convictions in the Lake County
Adult Correctional Facility that were present in the Facility during the water
shutoff in November 2017.I
If you are still not sure whether you are included, you can get free help at www.koconnorlaw.com, or
by contacting the Settlement Administrator by calling 1-877-933-2881, or write to the Hardeman
Settlement, c/o A.B. Data, Ltd., P.O. Box 170500, Milwaukee, WI 53217.
You have to decide whether to stay in the Class or ask to be excluded before the settlement or trial, and
you have to decide this now.
You don’t have to do anything now if you want to keep the possibility of getting money or benefits
from this lawsuit. By doing nothing you are staying in the Class. If you stay in and the Plaintiffs obtain
money or benefits, either as a result of a trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to apply
for a share (or how to ask to be excluded from any settlement). Keep in mind that if you do nothing
now, regardless of whether the Plaintiffs win or lose the trial, you will not be able to sue, or continue to
sue, Lake County—as part of any other lawsuit—about the same legal claims that are the subject of
this lawsuit. This means that if you do nothing, you may only be able to sue for civil rights violations
that occurred before November 8, 2017, or after November 10, 2017, only. You will also be legally
bound by all of the orders the Court issues and judgments the Court makes in this class action.
If you exclude yourself from the Class—which also means to remove yourself from the Class, and is
sometimes called “opting-out” of the Class—you won’t get any money or benefits from this lawsuit
even if the Plaintiffs obtain them as a result of the trial or from any settlement (that may or may not be
reached) between Lake County and the Plaintiffs. If you exclude yourself, you will not be legally bound
by the Court’s judgments in this class action.
If you start your own lawsuit against Lake County after you exclude yourself, you’ll have to hire and
pay your own lawyer for that lawsuit, and you’ll have to prove your claims. If you do exclude yourself
QUESTIONS ? VISIT WWW.KOCONNORLAW.COM.
so you can start or continue your own lawsuit against Lake County, you should talk to your own lawyer
soon, because your claims may be subject to a statute of limitations.
To ask to be excluded, you must send an “Exclusion Request” in the form of a letter sent by mail,
stating that you want to be excluded from Hardeman v. County of Lake. Be sure to include your name
and address, and sign the letter. You must mail your Exclusion Request postmarked by April 23, 2021,
to:
Hardeman Settlement
c/o A.B. Data, Ltd.
P.O. Box 170500
Milwaukee, WI 53217
The Court decided that the law firm of O’Connor Law Firm, Ltd., of Chicago, IL, is qualified to
represent you and all Class Members. The law firm is called “Class Counsel.” They are experienced in
handling similar cases against other organizations. More information about the law firm, their practices,
and their lawyers’ experience is available at www.koconnorlaw.com.
You do not need to hire your own lawyer because Class Counsel is working on your behalf. But, if you
want your own lawyer, you will have to pay that lawyer. For example, you can ask him or her to appear
in Court for you if you want someone other than Class Counsel to speak for you.
If Class Counsel get money or benefits for the Class, they may ask the Court for fees and expenses.
You won’t have to pay these fees and expenses. If the Court grants Class Counsels’ request, the fees
and expenses would be either deducted from any money obtained for the Class or paid separately by
Lake County.
THE TRIAL
18. How and when will the Court decide who is right?
The Court has not scheduled a trial to decide who is right in this case.
You do not need to attend the trial. Class Counsel will present the case for the Plaintiffs, and Lake
County will present the defenses. You or your own lawyer are welcome to come at your own expense.
If the Plaintiffs obtain money or benefits as a result of the trial or a settlement, you will be notified
about how to participate. We do not know how long this will take.
Visit the website www.koconnorlaw.com, where you will find the Court’s Order Certifying the Class,
the Complaint that the Plaintiffs submitted, the Defendant’s Answer to the Complaint, as well as an
Appellate Court’s Decision to deny Defendants’ Appeal. You may also speak to one of the case
administrators by calling 1-877-933-2881, or by writing to Hardeman Settlement, c/o A.B. Data,
Ltd., P.O. Box 170500, Milwaukee, WI 53217.