Facts

Plaintiffs were three nonprofit corporations, Yellowstone Women's First Step House Inc., the Sober Living Network, and California Women's Recovery Inc.
Yellowstone is licensed by the State of California to provide housing and treatment services for men in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction. Yellowstone has a single-family house in one of Costa Mesa's residential neighborhoods. Some Yellowstone residents are on parole or probation. The Sober Living Network is a membership organization consisting of sober living providers in Orange County, including Costa Mesa.

California Women's Recovery has a single-family house in one of Costa Mesa's residential neighborhoods. The house, called Lynn House, is a sober living home for women in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction. It does not provide any addiction treatment.

Plaintiffs filed suit against the City of Costa Mesa in connection to its housing laws.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs alleged that the City of Costa Mesa discriminated against homes for persons in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction in violation of fair housing laws. Plaintiffs' action mainly targeted the City of Costa Mesa's group home ordinance. Plaintiffs claimed that the City of Costa Mesa violated federal and state laws by enacting and enforcing land-use rules, ordinances, and procedures that discriminate on the basis of disability by reducing or limiting housing opportunities for persons in recovery.

Plaintiffs alleged that the city harassed group homes for persons in recovery. Plaintiffs claimed that the city engaged in these actions for the purposes or with the effect of limiting or restricting the number, location, and operation of group homes occupied by persons in recovery. Yellowstone and California Women's Recovery also claimed they were subject to illegal searches of their homes. Additionally, Yellowstone claimed that the city unlawfully refused to grant it a reasonable accommodation making an exception to the city's requirement that it have no more than six residents in its home.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: The City of Costa Mesa denied plaintiffs' allegations and asserted that it has never discriminated against recovering addicts. The city contended that its group home ordinance, passed in 2014, was written to balance the rights of all citizens including residents of group homes to live in and enjoy Costa Mesa's single family neighborhoods. Over the last six years, Costa Mesa has seen explosive growth in the number of sober living homes in the city's residential neighborhoods, with some cul-de-sacs or blocks having as many as six of these homes on them. Some operators had been packing 15 or more residents in single family homes to maximize profits. The city designed its ordinance to protect both the residents in these homes and others in the community by regulating unlicensed operators to prevent overcrowding, establish minimum standards, and require that group home operators and employees not have serious criminal convictions in the recent past.

The city argued that the law is not discriminatory and does not violate the Fair Housing Act. It also contended that it never subjected Yellowstone and California Women's Recovery to illegal searches, and that Yellowstone was not entitled to a reasonable accommodation.

Result

The jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of defendant City of Costa Mesa on all counts that were to be decided by the jury.

Other Information

Plaintiff Yellowstone Women's First Step House has one remaining equitable claim, which the court will decide.

Deliberation

half day

Length

four weeks