Court Cases

The Coalition on Homelessness and several individual plaintiffs sued San Francisco over its punitive practice of seizing and destroying unhoused residents’ belongings during encampment sweeps in violation of the Fourth Amendment and the city’s own policies.

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and our legal partner sued Santa Clara County Superior Court over its unfair policy requiring people who want to voluntarily address an outstanding arrest warrant to first go to jail if they are too poor to post bail.

On March 16, 2022, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California (“ACLU”) filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Fresno, urging the court to strike down a city ordinance that targets unhoused people, and puts unconstitutional restrictions on advocates, organizers, and reporters who try to draw attention to how the unhoused are treated during encampment sweeps. In February 2022, city officials amended an existing ordinance to create a buffer zone around abatement activity, like encampment sweeps, taking place on public property. Anyone who enters the off-limits area “without express authorization” from the city can now be charged with a misdemeanor or fined up to $250. This outrageously broad ordinance is a direct assault not just on our plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, but on everyone’s rights. The ACLU and the California Homeless Union, represented by the Law Offices of Anthony D. Prince, filed the complaint in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California on behalf of Dez Martinez, a longtime advocate who was once unhoused, Robert McCloskey, a reporter and activist, the Fresno Homeless Union, and Faith in the Valley. The lawsuit seeks to stop the ordinance from going into effect on March 31 and ultimately to get it voided altogether. On March 30, 2022, the ACLU and the California Homeless Union filed a motion for preliminary injunction to ask the Court to prohibit the City of Fresno from enforcing the ordinance and conducting nuisance abatements under the ordinance. In response, the City of Fresno moved to dismiss the lawsuit. The Court has scheduled a hearing on the preliminary injunction for Wednesday, May 11.

In September 2020, the City of San Francisco filed a series of shockingly unprecedented lawsuits against 28 Bay Area residents. The City is seeking to use California’s public nuisance and Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) statutes to banish individuals from the San Francisco's Tenderloin District for allegedly engaging in a few instances of street-level drug dealing.

On January 27, 2022, we filed suit against San Mateo County Superior Court for their unlawful practice of automatically imposing a $300 charge every time an individual misses a payment or court deadline in their traffic infraction case. The Court administers this additional fee, known as the civil assessment, without judicial review, adequate notice, or consideration for a person’s circumstances.  

Five residents of Pacifica sued the city for attempting to banish RV dwellers from its jurisdiction. They obtained a court injunction requiring the city to set aside and publicize the availability of two miles of streets for RV parking, to set up a “safe parking” program, and to implement other measures to assist people living in vehicles.