A civil rights lawsuit asserting both state and federal civil rights violations against the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office of West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. This case seeks justice in the face of racially-charged, aggressive and unconstitutional law enforcement searches motivated by Louisiana’s asset forfeiture regime. In March 2021, Ms. Mills was driving through Louisiana on interstate I-10 with her partner when a deputy pulled her over for purported improper lane usage and failure to signal. The deputies proceeded to subject her to prolonged detention, invasive searches including of her banking cards and phone, harassment, and the seizure of her cash savings and her rental car.
In 2019, Leroy Butts, an elderly Black resident of Lancaster, was handing out know-your-rights pamphlets to unhoused people in a Lancaster park when he was ticketed for “public intoxication.” Mr. Butts was drinking a soda. It didn’t matter that he neither possessed nor had consumed alcohol: Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies issued him a $500 citation in clear retaliation for informing people of their rights to stay in the park. And under Lancaster’s punitive pay-to-appeal citation system, Mr. Butts could not appeal his citation until after he paid it—something he could not afford to do. From there, his debt was referred to a private collection agency that added more fees. He was told he would not be able to renew his driver’s license and that the city could file a claim against his income tax return.
The City of Lancaster had an arcane system in place whereby civil fines could not be challenged until after they were paid. Many of these fines for minor and questionable infractions were—like Mr. Butts—for $500 or even $1000, representing the same amount of someone’s monthly rent or SNAP benefits. And the failure to pay only resulted in additional late fines.
Mr. Butts and the ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit alleging that Lancaster and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department “maintain[ed] an administrative citation system that [was] designed and enforced to punish poverty, in violation of the California Constitution.”
A Superior Court judge agreed in significant part, holding that Lancaster’s citation system violated the due process and equal protection rights of poor individuals by denying them the right to a free appeal. Soon after, Lancaster settled the excessive fines and fees portion of the lawsuit, agreeing to discharge all outstanding debt on public safety citations issued before February 2021, impose lower fees and provide community service alternatives to fines, and allow free administrative appeals of citations to people unable to pay the underlying fine for all citations going forward.
Trial Impact Project joined the case in late 2022, working with co-counsel at ACLU of Southern California and Hueston Hennigan to negotiate monetary settlements with the City of Lancaster and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and resolve the case entirely.
This case is a step toward eliminating policing disparities and ensuring people aren’t afforded different remedies and rights based on their race, housing status, or wealth. Thanks to the tireless work of Mr. Butts and other advocates, people in Lancaster can appeal public safety citations without first having to pay excessive fines.
In Lancaster, a desert city in the northern part of Los Angeles County, local officials have come up with an unconstitutional “scheme” to punish unhoused people and other low-income residents with $500 and $1,000 fines for violating the city’s municipal code, according to a new lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Southern California and UC Irvine School of Law.
The Trial Impact Project and ACLU of Southern California developed a record showing that Lancaster continued to fine people for their poverty and had no basis to ticket Mr. Butts. That record, and our team’s willingness to continue the fight, resulted in lasting change for hundreds of Lancaster residents subject to a punitive administrative citation system: the City of Lancaster can’t issue public nuisance-style citations for “disturbing the peace,” “disorderly conduct,” or sleeping in public without following strict requirements and documenting alternatives.
