Carter v. Cook County Sheriff

Plaintiffs, a group of nine named plaintiffs, filed a putative class action lawsuit against the Cook County Sheriff under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in which they sought damages for constitutional violations stemming from the jail’s policy of destroying inmate’s government-issued identification cards if left unclaimed in jail storage after the inmate is transferred to the Illinois Department of Collections. The district court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss and plaintiffs appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that plaintiffs’ claims were foreclosed by prior precedent and that plaintiffs had not established inadequacy of state remedies. (SYKES and BRENNAN, concurring)