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A federal judge had ruled that a Euclid couple mistakenly arrested has claimed no "actionable conduct" against those the pair sued.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Euclid couple mistakenly jailed for several days because of a filing error in the city's probation department cannot collect any damages, a federal judge has ruled, even though the woman lost her job and had her car towed as a result.

Marcus Lewis and Cachet Beckham, a couple who in 2013 had three children and another on the way, were jailed for four and five days, respectively, because a Euclid probation officer likely forgot to move a court order from a folder to a three-ring binder, according to court filings.

At the time, the couple was under an order to perform community service for recent misdemeanor drug convictions. Beckham at the time worked for a home health-care provider.

They filed suit in 2014, claiming that the city, probation officers and the police officers who arrested them violated their civil rights.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent, in an opinion released Tuesday, wrote that while both sides agree that the situation is "unfortunate and regrettable," nobody can be held responsible under the law. He dismissed the lawsuit, saying there was no "actionable conduct" on the part of any of the defendants.

"The evidence indicates that a mistake was made in the processing of Plaintiffs' paperwork in the Probation Department, nothing more," Nugent wrote.

Nancy Schuster, an attorney who represented Lewis and Beckham, said she was disappointed with the ruling and they are thinking about filing an appeal.

She also wrote in a brief filed Dec. 18, before Nugent issued his opinion, that the officers who arrested the couple could have instead issued a summons.

According to the opinion:

The couple was ticketed on Feb. 15, 2013 for possessing drug paraphernalia and cultivation of marijuana in the vicinity of a juvenile. Both pleaded no contest two weeks later and a judge allowed them to perform community service in lieu of a fine. The judge on March 1 ordered the couple to report to Euclid's probation department within 10 days.

When the probation department receives a court order for a defendant, an employee usually puts it in a manila folder. When a defendant shows up for his or her probation assignment, an employee is supposed to remove the court order and file it away.

That didn't happen with Beckham and Lewis, though. Both checked in with Chief Probation Officer Sherri Travis on March 7 and received their assignments, but the court orders were never moved.

On March 14, another probation officer, Steven Buy, checked the manila folder and saw Beckham and Lewis' court orders in there. Believing that Beckham and Lewis never reported for their assignments, he referred the case to the city's municipal court judge, who issued warrants for their arrests.

The pair was arrested Thursday, March 28 at a gas station in Wickliffe. At the time, they were coming from their community service assignment and were on the way to pick up their children from day care.

Beckham and Lewis had the paperwork with them when they were arrested proving that they were performing their community service but a court bailiff told them he couldn't immediately verify the information because it was Easter weekend.

Neither was able to post bond. Lewis appeared in front of a judge on April 1 - the following Monday - and the judge freed him and vacated his community service. Beckham was released the following day.

Travis later testified that the mistake happened because the orders may have arrived after Beckham and Lewis had reported for their community service or "that it is possible she forgot to move them from the folder."

A message left for the city prosecutor was not immediately returned.