Berkeley Wins Lawsuit Brought By Homeless Men

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A federal jury in San Francisco on Friday rejected claims by three homeless men who alleged the city of Berkeley targeted their encampments because of their political protests and activism.

The three men are members of a group called First They Came for the Homeless. They alleged Berkeley officials violated their constitutional free-speech rights by selecting their encampments for removal in retaliation for their protests of city policy.

A civil jury in the court of U.S. District Judge William Alsup rejected that claim and ruled in favor of the city of Berkeley after four days of trial testimony and two hours of deliberations.

The jury also turned down a claim that Berkeley failed to give homeless people adequate notice that their property had been collected and stored after an encampment was cleared.

Alsup told jurors in instructions before their deliberations that the issue in the case was "not whether the city of Berkeley has or has not done enough to solve the problem of homelessness."

He told the jury that the city was entitled to enforce anti-lodging laws and could be found liable for a civil rights violation only if the plaintiffs proved their free speech was the motivating factor in Berkeley's enforcement actions.

— Bay City News

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