U.S. District Judge T. John Ward recently certified a modified class of plaintiffs who are suing several East Texas public officials, including Shelby County District Attorney Lynda K. Russell and her former investigator Danny Green, alleging civil rights violations.
While Ward’s Aug. 29 memorandum opinion and order allows the class to pursue injunctive and declaratory relief against the defendants in Morrow, et al. v. Washington, et al., it does not certify any of those claims for monetary relief. In arriving at his decision, Ward cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 20 decision in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes , which rejected a monetary recovery by a diverse class of plaintiffs. Yet Ward allowed the plaintiffs to pursue individual claims against the defendants for monetary damages.
