LOS ANGELES, CA — A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit brought by the owners of the Los Angeles home where Marilyn Monroe died, according to court papers obtained Tuesday.
Husband and wife Roy Bank and Brinah Milstein, who live at the Brentwood property, sued the city and Mayor Karen Bass, alleging that Los Angeles had unfairly designated the house a historic monument "without any public purpose or just compensation," curtailing their plans to demolish the structure.
U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson concluded the couple had failed to state a viable taking claim and granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the lawsuit last week.
Bank and Milstein purchased the property in 2023 for more than $8 million. The couple say they bought the residence "with the clear intent of demolishing the dilapidated structures on the property," according to the lawsuit, which was filed in January in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park led the effort to have the home protected, even holding a 2023 news conference backing the landmark designation.
The plaintiffs contend the property's connection to Monroe is tenuous.
"Not a trace of Ms. Monroe's short tenure at the house remains at the property or in the house — and the house has been substantially altered by successive owners over more than 60 years," attorneys claim in the original complaint.
The star of "Some Like It Hot" lived in the 1929 Spanish Colonial- style house for only six months, the couple said. The actress was found dead at age 36 inside the home in August 1962, a probable suicide by overdose, officials said at the time.
During the ensuing decades, the property — which cannot be viewed from the street — has had over a dozen different owners, undergone numerous renovations and was issued more than two-dozen building permits from the city — all without the historical designation, the lawsuit says.
Since the designation as a Historic-Cultural Monument, the property has become "a tourist attraction," according to the complaint, with traffic blocking the dead-end street and trespassers climbing walls to get a better view of the home.
City News Service
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