Thousands of people who have been incarcerated at the Pierce County Jail could be certified as a class of detainees affected by a decades-old plumbing problem that former inmates claim caused sewage backups and noxious smells that made people sick and suicidal.
Federal Magistrate Judge S. Kate Vaughan recommended to District Court Judge Thomas Zilly on April 30 that former inmates Zakery Bonds and Echota Wolfclan, who have sued Pierce County over conditions in the jail, be appointed as class representatives and that a class be certified consisting of all detainees who have been jailed in cell blocks with unremedied plumbing defects that led to unsanitary conditions.
In class actions, one or a few people sue on behalf of a group or class of people who have similar claims. Bonds and Wolfclan’s lawsuit has arrived at the critical stage where a judge decides whether the case can proceed as a class action…