LA County asks to be dismissed from skid row alliance lawsuit

Denying any responsibility for the growing homelessness crisis, Los Angeles County is asking to be dismissed as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by business owners who live, work or own property in skid row.

"While the county shares plaintiffs' goal of providing shelter to all [homeless people] their lawsuit is not the proper forum," Skip Miller, a lawyer for the county, wrote in the motion. "Complex policy questions about how to address homelessness must be resolved by the county's elected governing body, the board of supervisors. This lawsuit seeks to intrude upon the county's legislative process based on untenable legal theories."

LA Alliance, a coalition of city residents and business owners who live, work or own property in skid row, sued the county and city in March 2020. Their lawsuit claims the defendants exacerbated the homelessness crisis over the years by failing to enforce anti-vagrancy laws. LA Alliance for Human Rights v. City of Los Angeles, et al., 2:20-CV-2991 (C.D. Cal., filed March 10, 2020).

The crisis was worsened after recent federal court decisions, specifically a 2019 decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled Boise, Idaho could not arrest and charge people for sleeping outside on public property if no alternative spaces were provided. Martin v. Boise, 2018 DJDAR 8871 (9th Cir. 2018).

Miller said U.S. Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California, who has assumed a lead role in trying to solve the problem of homelessness in Southern California, could not dictate how Los Angeles County addresses the crisis, allocates resources, spends funds and prioritizes housing. The court can't substitute its own policy judgments for those of elected officials, Miller wrote.

Elizabeth A. Mitchell and Matthew D. Umhofer of Spertus, Landes & Umhofer LLP represent the plaintiff alliance.

"We're not surprised by this motion," Mitchell said Monday. "The county is doing the same thing it always has, blaming the city all over again, and it's a shame. The unhoused do not have the luxury of delay. Because of the county's actions in this case, there is no choice for us but to file this motion to generate a system of change and global resolution to work together to solve this crisis."

Last month, plaintiff LA Alliance for Human Rights, filed a notice of intent to file a motion for preliminary injunction against the city and county of Los Angeles. The county filed two motions Monday, one seeking dismissal from the case and the other to lift a stay that was put in place last year to give the parties a chance to reach a settlement.