MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The City of Morgantown and Anthony Rowand, through legal counsel from Mountain State Justice, have agreed to settle a class action lawsuit involving the city’s now-repealed panhandling law.

According to a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia Wednesday, the proposed settlement would stipulate that the city will pay a total of $35,100. $10,100 of that would be paid to Rowand—$10,000 in damages and $100 as the sole class member currently identified as having paid fines or costs under the ordinance.

According to the settlement, Mountain State Justice will be paid $25,000 to fully satisfy its claims for fees.

The city must also run a Class 2 legal advertisement indicating that any person previously charged under the ordinance will have any existing convictions vacated as part of the settlement. No action is required on the part of those convicted. The Morgantown Police Department must also notify officers that they cannot enforce other laws for the purpose of limiting activity solely prohibited by the repealed panhandling law.

City Code Section 371.10, the code that prohibited asking for money or other objects of value by any means with the intention of the money or objects being transferred from an occupant of a vehicle within a public roadway at that time and place—first went on the city’s books in July 2005.

The lawsuit filed by Mountain State Justice claimed the statute violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution because the ordinance was content-based, meaning it only applied to individuals exercising a specific kind of speech—the solicitation of money, property, or business—and not, for example, those touting a political candidate or passing out religious literature.

The legal advocacy nonprofit filed the suit on April 22, 2024, on Rowand’s behalf for nine tickets and assessed fines under the code between June 2, 2023, and Feb. 12, 2024.

Earlier this month, bodycam footage of an Oct. 23, 2024, that showed an interaction between Rowand and Morgantown Police officer Matt Starsick showed up on social media, where Rowand was quoted as saying that he’d been waiting to be ticketed under the advice of his lawyer to get “a couple of them.”

“You’re telling me that she’s telling you to come out here and knowingly violate the law in order for her to try to cash in?” Starsick asked in the video. “Ask her the next time you talk to her if she cares if you get hit by a vehicle?” Starsick said.

As Starsick pointed out the dangers of standing in the middle of the road, Rowand responded.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right about that,” Rowand said. “Maybe it’s the cha-ching she’s seeing.”

According to the settlement, the city claims it’s not aware of anyone else to be ticketed under the ordinance.

Representatives with Mountain State Justice who were contacted by WAJR when the video was released stated the context of the video was not clear and did not make any further comments.