Jury trial to begin in federal civil rights case against Suffolk County
Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead in 2019. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
A jury trial is slated to begin on Monday in a federal civil rights case to determine the damages against Suffolk County in a nearly decade-old case centered on the detention of immigrants in the country illegally.
A federal judge earlier this year ruled Suffolk County violated the constitutional rights of hundreds of immigrants held on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers between 2016 and 2018. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied the county's request to delay the trial.
Jury selection begins Monday in Brooklyn federal court before Judge William F. Kuntz II.
Jose L. Perez, deputy general counsel of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a Manhattan-based advocacy group that filed the suit along with a law firm, said in a recent interview the trial will determine damages and one remaining claim of liability.
The county hired an outside law firm, Manhattan-based Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky, to represent it on the case after the January decision.
A spokesperson for County Executive Edward P. Romaine declined to comment Saturday on pending litigation, although the county held a news conference on the case in January. "We will fight this all the way," the county executive said in January and added the county could be liable for $60 million, which he decried as a burden on county taxpayers.
An attorney for Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday.
Perez criticized the county for hiring outside counsel instead of pursuing a settlement, saying the firm has tried to relitigate old issues.
County Attorney Chris Clayton told Suffolk legislators at an Oct. 14 budget hearing the case was "a complex piece of litigation that's costing us a lot of money."
Kuntz ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a Sept. 29 decision, denying a motion by the county to dismiss the complaint, according to court filings.
The case stems from Suffolk's policy under former Sheriff Vincent DeMarco to honor ICE detainers, a practice halted after a 2018 court ruling found it unlawful.
The original complaint was filed in 2017 on behalf of Joaquin Orellana Castaneda, an immigrant from Guatemala, who had been stopped by Suffolk police for a traffic violation and booked on a driving while intoxicated-related arrest. He was held on an ICE detainer for two days after his bail was posted on the local charge.
The lawsuit was given class action status, ultimately including 650 people, according to court filings.
The county's argument, Clayton said at the October budget hearing and as officials previously stated in a January press conference, was that the county is entitled to immunity because it acted under federal authority.
Kuntz's Sept. 29 decision said: "Local authorities who have a policy and practice of unilaterally honoring ICE detainers without a written agreement are not entitled to an unwaivable presumption of federal sovereign immunity."
Perez said they made a "good-faith settlement offer" to the county in summer 2024 but declined to specify figures due to confidentiality of settlement discussions.
A recent bond rating statement for Suffolk County lists the case in a summary of outstanding litigation and cites the plaintiff's demand in 2024 as $14 million, exclusive of attorney's fees.
Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.
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