Brookside, Alabama $1.5M Towing and Ticketing Settlement (Claims Not Open Yet)

Government · Claim Form Not Yet Open

Current Status

The claim form is not open yet. Judge Anna M. Manasco of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama granted preliminary approval on September 30, 2026 and directed that notice go to potential class members within 75 days, which is by December 14, 2026. Claims, exclusion requests and objections are each due 120 days after the administrator sends notice, so no calendar deadline has been set yet. The final approval hearing is August 12, 2027.

What Changed Recently?

On September 30, 2026, Judge Anna M. Manasco granted preliminary approval of the class settlement in Coleman, et al. v. The Town of Brookside, Alabama, et al., No. 2:22-cv-00423-AMM, finding at this stage that it is fair, reasonable and adequate. The order preliminarily certifies two classes, a Towing Class and a Charging Class, approves the proposed notice and claim form, and appoints Angeion Group LLC as the claims administrator.

The lawsuit, filed in April 2022, alleges that starting in 2018 Brookside used towing fees and municipal court fines, fees and costs to raise revenue for its police department in ways that violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that its towing provider, Jett’s Towing Inc., took part in the towing side. Brookside and Jett’s Towing contested and denied the claims. The court denied their motions to dismiss but has not decided who is right. The settlement is between the plaintiffs and the town; Jett’s Towing is not a party to it.

The case followed AL.com’s 2022 investigation of the town’s police department. Brookside’s police chief resigned in January 2022 after that report, according to WBRC. The complaint alleges that the town’s fines and forfeitures revenue rose from $82,467 in 2018 to $610,307 in 2020 and that police-ordered tows rose from 50 to 789 over the same years.

Who Qualifies?

The Towing Class is everyone who, from March 1, 2018 to August 1, 2022, paid fees to the Town of Brookside, Jett’s Towing, Rich’s Towing or any other towing company, or any combination of them, to get back a vehicle towed on the orders of the Brookside Police Department after a traffic stop.

The Charging Class is everyone who, from March 1, 2018 to August 1, 2022, was charged with an offense in the Brookside Municipal Court after a traffic stop by the Brookside Police Department.

A person can belong to one class, both or neither. People who already released their claims against Brookside in earlier individual lawsuits or settlements listed in the agreement are excluded, as are people who opt out.

How Much Can You Get?

Brookside will pay $1,000,000 into a Towing Class Fund and $500,000 into a Charging Class Fund. Separately, the town pays the first $155,000 of administration costs; the administrator has quoted no more than $133,500. If costs ever exceed $155,000, the excess comes equally out of the two funds. Class counsel are not seeking attorneys’ fees, so the $1.5 million goes to class members.

The Towing Class Fund is split into equal shares, one for each verified towing incident with a valid claim, so a person with two verified tows gets two shares. When two people paid different parts of the release fees for the same tow, one paying the town and the other the towing company, they split that share in half. The Charging Class Fund is divided equally among valid claimants. A person in both classes can be paid from both funds. Payments are mailed by check after the settlement becomes final, and checks expire 90 days after they are issued.

The class notice estimates the Towing Class at a maximum of about 1,700 members and the Charging Class at about 5,500. If no fund money goes to administration costs, it projects these amounts per claim:

• Towing Class: $588.23 if all 1,700 claim, $1,176.47 if half claim and $2,352.94 if a quarter claim

• Charging Class: $90.90 if all 5,500 claim, $181.81 if half claim and $363.63 if a quarter claim