MEMPHIS, Tenn. — West Tennessee sexual assault survivors are embracing a small win out of circuit court Wednesday. The lawsuit, centered around 12,000 untested rape kits within the Memphis Police Department, can now move forward as a class action lawsuit.
It all started about nine years ago when the lawsuit was initially filed after Memphis Police Department revealed those thousands of untested sexual assault kits. Emotions were intense just outside of the courtroom following Judge Higgins ruling to certify the class.
Some of those survivors have shown up at the hearings over the years but today’s ruling was one of the most anticipated in this case. The lawsuit began with one anonymous plaintiff, but now, additional survivors can be part of the class action suit with more people expected to join soon.
“It’s doubtful that there would be a trial,” Attorney Daniel Lofton said. “It could come to that but the city has lost, the class is certified. So, it’s a question of how many thousands of persons will be included into the class.”
“It was great to hear that we’ve been certified,” sexual assault survivor Debby Dalhoff said. “That’s been a long time coming for all of us victims. It should’ve been a no brainer to be certified but we do have laws and rules and processes and all that. I’m very, very happy today.”
Lofton said he doesn’t want to speculate what might happen in terms of a settlement or taking the case to court, btu the payout could be a pretty penny.
“The statute provides a $300,000 per person cap up to a $700,000 per incident,” Lofton said. “The court hasn’t decided that yet, the court could do a lot of different things with it.”
When everything is said and done, the settlement could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, regardless, survivors know there is still a long road ahead.
“We deserve the certification so hopefully we can get to … the end,” Dalhoff said. “We know that’s probably gonna take some more time but we’re gonna get there.”
Attorneys are expecting to take a couple of months to determine exactly what next steps will look like now that the lawsuit can either go to trial or be settled without going to court.