Federal Lawsuit Against LA County Over Failures To Address Homeless Crisis Will Now Go To Trial

A federal appeals court has rejected L.A. County’s request to end a major homelessness lawsuit seeking more treatment beds for people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction.

The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, issued Friday but not reported in the press until now, paves the way for the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights case to proceed for a scheduled November trial before federal Judge David O. Carter.

The decision supports Carter’s efforts to push the county to create more treatment beds.

The backstory 

Back in April, the county and plaintiffs reached a settlement deal that called for more county treatment beds. But Carter rejected it.

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At the time, the county had proposed 1,000 new mental health beds over the next few years and money for another 450 people to get services at existing board and care facilities. Carter said that wasn’t enough and pointed to a 2019 county report finding 3,000 new mental health beds were needed to keep up with demand — a number that’s only grown since then, he said.

In May, the county appealed Carter’s rejection of the settlement, saying he lacked authority to reject the settlement because it was agreed to by both parties, and that he was unconstitutionally interfering in the county’s budget priorities.

The county wanted the 9th Circuit to end the lawsuit, under the agreed settlement terms.

But the appeals court disagreed, and denied the county’s request on Friday.

In a brief decision, justices on the 9th Circuit found the county failed to show it had a right to what they described as an “extraordinary” act: asking the appeals court to order a lower court judge to accept the settlement. The justices pointed to a 1977 appeals court ruling that establishes five factors to decide whether to grant such an order.

Reactions to the ruling

“This was the right result,” said Matthew Umhofer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement to LAist calling the county’s appeal “a Hail Mary” and saying L.A. deserves more.

The L.A. Alliance for Human Rights is a group of business owners and residents.

“We’re focused on holding the county accountable for its failure to address the tragedy of homelessness, mental health challenges, and substance use disorder playing out on the scorching streets of Los Angeles,” he said.

County officials said they’re disappointed, but are committed to tackling the homeless crisis.

“While we’re understandably disappointed by the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling on our appeal, the County is prepared to continue litigating this case in court even as it makes combatting homelessness its top priority,” said a statement from Mira Hashmall, an attorney with the Miller Barondess law firm who represents L.A. County in the lawsuit.

Unhoused advocates agree with county

Unlike the plaintiffs, attorneys for unhoused advocates have sided with the county about the appeal.

“Forcing the parties to litigate this is a waste of time and resources and a distraction from the work that will actually solve this crisis,” said Shayla Myers, an attorney representing advocacy groups in the case like the Los Angeles Community Action Network, in an April statement about the appeal.

Friday’s appeals court decision was issued by justices Richard C. Tallman, N. Randy Smith and Daniel P. Collins.

Read the ruling

What comes next 

When Carter rejected the settlement as not enough back in April, he noted the case would move to a traditional lawsuit — where top county officials would have to turn over their text messages and emails about homelessness.

The case is the second phase of a lawsuit that originally focused on the city of L.A. City officials settled last year — agreeing to create nearly 13,000 shelter beds and apartments for the city’s unhoused people by 2027. A city report last week estimated that to meet that, an additional 5,000 beds are needed beyond what is already planned.

The L.A. city council plans a discussion of their efforts to comply with the settlement in the coming weeks.