MacArthur Justice Center v. City of St. Louis

The MacArthur Justice Center sued the City of St. Louis for failure to provide records and reports relating to the mysterious death of Justin Ratcliff, a detainee who died at the Workhouse jail in December 2016. For months MacArthur attorneys made requests under Missouri’s Sunshine Law to obtain incident reports from the jail, internal investigations documents, the medical examiner’s records, and the death certificate. Other than turning over a single police report that raised more questions than it answers, however, the City of St. Louis disregarded MacArthur’s repeated requests while also acknowledging additional materials exist. Thus, the group filed suit in the St. Louis City Circuit Court to obtain the materials and sanctions.

The City produced additional records after the filing of the lawsuit, and the case was resolved in June 2018 through an offer of judgment by the City of St. Louis.