Agreement in ‘debtors prison’ lawsuit against Alexander City gets preliminary approval

Alexander City’s Amanda Underwood was sent to jail on her son’s birthday because she didn’t have money to pay fines and court costs. She was one of the leqads in a class action lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Lawsuit against Alexander City. (Russell Estes / Southern Poverty Law Center)

The settlement of a class action lawsuit filed as a result of a now abandoned Alexander City policy that jailed people convicted of some crimes when they didn’t immediately pay all of their fines for traffic tickets and misdemeanors took a step closer to being finalized Monday.

Under the mediation agreement, the class will receive roughly $680,000 if final approval is granted. Of that amount, the city will pony up about $242,800 of the total and the insurance carrier being responsible for roughly $437,000. The suit had originally sought $2.9 million in damages.