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Raleigh, Wake County

Raleigh: Proposed settlement in eCourts wrongful-arrest class action

Tyler Technologies would pay up to $1.5 million for valid claims. A federal judge still has to approve the deal. Six of the nine named plaintiffs have Wake County cases.

ConfirmedThe main facts are confirmed by official or first-hand sources.

By Triangle Local Newsroom · Published

Downtown Raleigh buildings under a blue sky

File photo: James Willamor (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

What we know

Confirmed

  • A proposed class-action settlement over North Carolina's eCourts software was filed Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • Tyler Technologies, the Texas company hired by the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts to build eCourts, also called Odyssey, would pay up to $1.5 million for valid claims under that proposal.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • The total value of the proposal, including attorney fees and costs, could reach about $2.14 million.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • The papers describe two classes. People wrongly arrested would be offered $2,800 per wrongful arrest. People held in jail more than six hours after meeting release conditions would be offered $500, plus $350 for each additional hour beyond that threshold.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • Individual claims would be capped at $5,000.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • A federal judge must grant preliminary approval before notices are published and a claims period opens. Final approval would come after a hearing.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • Tyler does not admit wrongdoing. It has previously denied wrongdoing in court documents.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • The proposal does not resolve claims against Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • The lawsuit was filed in May 2023. It names nine plaintiffs. One has a case in Harnett County, two in Mecklenburg County, and six in Wake County.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • eCourts launched in early 2023 in Wake, Johnston, Harnett and Lee counties first.Confirmed by Federal court papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • Kevin Spruill, an adult named plaintiff and a Raleigh resident, has publicly said he was arrested three times in 2023 on the same Wake County warrant after that warrant had already been served.Confirmed by Kevin Spruill, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal
  • Plaintiffs' attorney Gagan Gupta said in a statement that the proposal "represents a meaningful outcome" for North Carolinians who lost their liberty during the transition to eCourts, and that it lets people be compensated without filing their own lawsuit.Confirmed by Statement from plaintiffs' attorney Gagan Gupta, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal

Alleged or reported

  • Spruill was arrested three times in 2023 on one Wake County warrant that had already been served.Kevin Spruill, a named plaintiff, has said
  • People lost their liberty because of problems during the changeover to eCourts.plaintiffs' attorney Gagan Gupta said in a statement

Still unknown

  • Whether a federal judge will grant preliminary approval, or later give the deal final approval
  • When notices would be published, and how long a claims period would last
  • How many people would qualify, and how much of the $1.5 million claim fund would be paid
  • The federal case number. The accounts we read did not list it
  • How the remaining claims against Sheriff McFadden will proceed

What this means for you

Instructions from Proposed settlement papers, as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal

This site is not the court and is not a claims office. A judge has not approved the settlement, so no claims window is open here. This is not legal advice. Triangle Local is not an emergency service. If anyone is in danger, call 911.

What happened

In Raleigh, a proposed class-action deal over North Carolina's eCourts software reached federal court on Monday.

The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal each described papers filed Oct. 26, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. We have not opened that docket ourselves.

Tyler Technologies, the Texas firm the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts hired to build the Odyssey system known as eCourts, would pay as much as $1.5 million to people with valid claims. Counting lawyer fees and other costs, the package could come to about $2.14 million.

Who could be paid, if a judge agrees

The papers split people into two classes.

The first covers people who were wrongly arrested. The filing sets a proposed figure of $2,800 for each of those arrests.

The second covers people kept in jail more than six hours after they had already met the terms for release. That class would receive $500, then $350 for every extra hour past that mark.

No one person could collect more than $5,000.

A judge still has to give the arrangement a first OK. If that happens, notices would be published and a window to make a claim would open. A later hearing would decide whether the arrangement becomes final.

Tyler does not admit it did anything wrong. Earlier filings from the company already denied that.

The deal also leaves standing the claims against Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden. Those claims are not resolved here.

How the case started

The suit was filed in May 2023.

Nine people are named as lead plaintiffs. One has a Harnett County case, two have Mecklenburg County cases, and six have Wake County cases.

eCourts first went live in early 2023 in Wake, Johnston, Harnett and Lee counties.

Kevin Spruill, who lives in Raleigh and is one of the adults named in the suit, has said deputies took him into custody three times in 2023 on one Wake County warrant after that warrant had already been served.

Gagan Gupta, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the arrangement "represents a meaningful outcome" for people in North Carolina who lost their liberty during the switch to eCourts. He also said it would let people be paid without each of them starting a separate case.

What happens next

No money moves, and no claim form is open, until a judge signs off. This site is not the court and cannot take a claim.

Triangle Local is not an official or emergency source. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.

Why it matters

eCourts went live first in Wake, Johnston, Harnett and Lee counties. Six of the nine people named in the suit have Wake County cases, and one of them lives in Raleigh. If a judge later approves the deal, people who say they were wrongly arrested or held too long during that changeover could file a claim instead of starting their own lawsuit.

Updates

  1. Oct 26, 2026, 8:15 PM

    A proposed class-action settlement with Tyler Technologies is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

Sources

  1. Proposed class-action settlement filed Oct. 26, 2026, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (terms, two classes, $1.5 million claims fund, about $2.14 million total with fees and costs, $5,000 individual cap, no admission of wrongdoing, Sheriff Garry McFadden claims excluded; as described by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal. We have not opened the federal docket ourselves.)

    Official sourcePublished by U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina · Checked Oct 26, 2026, 8:15 PM

  2. Statement from plaintiffs' attorney Gagan Gupta on the proposed eCourts settlement (called it a meaningful outcome for people who lost their liberty during the transition and said it lets people be paid without filing their own lawsuit; as reported by The Assembly, The News & Observer and Carolina Journal)

    Published by Gagan Gupta, counsel for the plaintiffs · Checked Oct 26, 2026, 8:15 PM

  3. eCourts Tyler Technologies lawsuit settlement in North Carolina

    Published by The Assembly · Checked Oct 26, 2026, 8:15 PM

  4. Settlement reached in federal suit against NC eCourts vendor

    Published by Carolina Journal · Checked Oct 26, 2026, 8:15 PM

  5. Proposed settlement in North Carolina eCourts lawsuit

    Published by The News & Observer · Checked Oct 26, 2026, 8:15 PM

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