Bell v. City of Boise

834 F. Supp. 2d 1103, 2011 WL 2650204, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72606
CourtDistrict Court, D. Idaho
DecidedJuly 6, 2011
DocketCase No. CV 09-540-S-REB
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 834 F. Supp. 2d 1103 (Bell v. City of Boise) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Idaho primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. City of Boise, 834 F. Supp. 2d 1103, 2011 WL 2650204, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72606 (D. Idaho 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

RONALD E. BUSH, United States Magistrate Judge.

Currently pending before the Court are: (1) Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. 77); (2) Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff Smith (Dkt. 80); and (3) Defendants’ Motion to Strike (Dkt. 96). All parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a United States Magistrate Judge. Dkt. 16. The Court has carefully reviewed the record; considered the oral argument of counsel at the hearing on this matter; and now enters the following Memorandum Decision and Order granting Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. 77) and dismissing Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint (Dkt. 53).

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs, all currently or formerly homeless individuals residing in Boise, contend that Defendants, including the City of Boise, Boise Police Department, and Chief of Police Michael Masterson, enforce Boise City ordinances against camping and sleeping in public to force the homeless out of Boise.

A. Ordinances

The ordinances at issue are Boise City Code §§ 9-10-02 and 6-01-05(A) (collectively “Ordinances”). Boise City Code § 9-10-02 (the “Camping Ordinance”) makes it a crime for any person “to use any of the streets, sidewalks, parks or public places as a camping place at any time.” The terms “camp” and “camping” are defined as follows:

[T]he use of public property as a temporary or permanent place of dwelling, lodging, or residence, or as a living accommodation at any time between sunset and sunrise, or as a sojourn. Indicia of camping may include, but are not limited to, storage of personal belongings, using tents or other temporary structures for sleeping or storage of personal belongings, carrying on cooking activities or making any fire in an unauthorized area, or any of these activities in combination with one another or in combination with either sleeping or making preparations to sleep (including the laying down of bedding for the purpose of sleeping).

B. C.C. § 9-10-02.

Boise City Code § 6-01-05(A) (the “Sleeping Ordinance”) criminalizes “disorderly conduct,” defined to include sleeping [1106]*1106in any location without permission of the owner. Specifically, the ordinance prohibits “[o]ecupying, lodging or sleeping in any building, structure or place, whether public or private, or in any motor vehicle without the permission of the owner or person entitled to possession or in control thereof.” B.C.C. § 6-01-05(A).

B. Allegations

Plaintiffs are individuals who either are or have been homeless and living in Boise. See Amended Complaint, ¶ 3 (Dkt. 53). All have been cited and convicted under either the Camping Ordinance, the Sleeping Ordinance, or both. Id. Plaintiffs claim that Defendants’ policy, custom, and practice of issuing citations to, arresting, and harassing homeless individuals, including Plaintiffs, under Boise City Ordinance §§ 9-10-02 and 6-01-05(A) has the effect of criminalizing homelessness. Id. at ¶ 35.

Plaintiffs contend that Defendants enforce the Ordinances aggressively and selectively against the homeless in order to drive them from the City. Id. at ¶ 23. The premise behind Plaintiffs’ claims is that the homeless in Boise have no choice but to be present on the streets during the day and night. Thus, to penalize them for harmless conduct, like sleeping, lying down, or sitting, is essentially penalizing them for nothing more than “being” without a home.

In addition, Plaintiffs contend that the Boise Police Department does not maintain written guidance or training regarding the enforcement of the Camping Ordinance and, as a result, Defendants have a policy and custom of enforcing the ordinance broadly and issue citations for sleeping, lying down, or sitting — basic necessities of life. Id. at ¶ 23. Plaintiffs further contend that Defendants enforce the Sleeping Ordinance against anyone sleeping in any public place in Boise at any time of the day and night. Id. at ¶ 24.

C. Claims and Relief Requested

Plaintiffs allege four constitutional claims: (1) Defendants’ enforcement of the Camping and Sleeping Ordinances against homeless people violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; (2) Defendants’ enforcement of the Camping and Sleeping Ordinances against homeless people violates the equal protection clause by impeding the homeless individuals’ fundamental right to travel; (3) the Camping Ordinance violates the due process clause because it is unconstitutionally vague; and (4) the Camping and Sleeping Ordinances violate the due process clause because they are unconstitutionally over-broad as applied to Plaintiffs, who are being punished for what is essentially innocent conduct. Amended Complaint (Dkt. No. 53). Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief and monetary damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. More specifically, Plaintiffs’ requested relief includes inter alia: (1) an order enjoining Defendants from enforcing the Camping and Sleeping Ordinances against homeless people sleeping or lying down in public; (2) an order compelling the City of Boise to expunge the records of any homeless individuals cited or arrested and charged under the Camping or Sleeping Ordinances; (3) an order requiring reimbursement of any fines paid by or incarceration costs billed to homeless individuals for violation of the Camping and Sleeping Ordinances; and (4) declaratory relief.

D. Status Offense Case Law

The United States Supreme Court has held that applying criminal laws to punish the involuntary status of an individual is unconstitutional. See Robinson v. Califor[1107]*1107nia, 370 U.S. 660, 82 S.Ct. 1417, 8 L.Ed.2d 758 (1962). In Robinson, the Supreme Court examined the constitutionality of a California statute that criminalized the status of being addicted to drugs. Id. at 666, 82 S.Ct. 1417. Treating addiction like a disease, the Supreme Court held that punishing addiction is akin to punishing mental illness, leprosy, or venereal disease, and the Eighth Amendment prohibits the state from criminalizing the status of having such diseases. Id. at 666-67, 82 S.Ct. 1417; see also Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 666-68, 97 S.Ct. 1401, 51 L.Ed.2d 711 (1977) (holding Eighth Amendment “imposes substantive limits on what can be made criminal and punished”).

The Supreme Court draws a distinction between laws that criminalize status, which are unconstitutional, and laws that criminalize conduct, which may be constitutional. For example, six years after deciding Robinson, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas statute that criminalized public drunkenness. See Powell v. State of Tex., 392 U.S. 514, 88 S.Ct. 2145, 20 L.Ed.2d 1254 (1968). In Powell, the Supreme Court rejected the trial court’s finding that the criminal defendant was compelled to appear drunk in public due to his chronic alcoholism, a disease that destroyed his will power to resist the excessive consumption of alcohol.

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Related

Robert Martin v. City of Boise
902 F.3d 1031 (Ninth Circuit, 2018)
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250 F. Supp. 3d 423 (N.D. California, 2017)
Bell v. City of Boise
993 F. Supp. 2d 1237 (D. Idaho, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
834 F. Supp. 2d 1103, 2011 WL 2650204, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72606, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-city-of-boise-idd-2011.