Yeager v. City of Seattle

District Court, W.D. Washington·Decided December 17, 2020·No. 2:20-cv-01813·Unknown

Opinion

HONORABLE RICHARD A. JONES

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT AT SEATTLE ADA YEAGER, an individual,

Plaintiff, Case No. 2:20-cv-01813-RAJ v.

THE CITY OF SEATTLE, a municipal corporation, Defendant. I. INTRODUCTION This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s Motion for Emergency Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. Dkt. # 2. For the reasons below, the Court DENIES the motion. II. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Ada Yeager is an unhoused individual who has been living in Cal Anderson Park since early June 2020. Dkt. # 1-2 ¶¶ 2, 6. At Cal Anderson Park, she is part of a “protest encampment,” a “staging ground for daily marches, political meetings, organizing, making art, growing food, and providing community-based solutions” to other homeless persons’ medical and mental health needs. Id. ¶¶ 2, 4. Based on her estimate, until recently, there were about 50 people also living in the park. Id. ¶ 9. In the morning of December 14, 2020, several police officers entered Cal Anderson Park and notified Ms. Yeager that she must remove all her personal property from the park. Id. Ex. 1. The notice of eviction provided a date and time (December 16, 2020 at 7:30 a.m.) by which Ms. Yeager would have to remove her belongings. Id. If any of her materials remained after that date and time, they would “removed by the City,” and some materials “authorized for storage” would be “kept for 70 days at no charge.” Id. The notice provided the address of where her belongings would be stored. Id. It also stated that the City would deliver such belongings to her. Id. Ms. Yeager refers to such an eviction as a “sweep.” Id. ¶ 11. She says that she has been present for four previous sweeps. In the past, she claims, police officers have ordered homeless residents of Cal Anderson Park off the premises and have seized and destroyed their property. Id. ¶¶ 11-21. The sweep scheduled for December 16, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. (which the Court refers to as the “intended sweep”), however, was unlike the previous. After police officers distributed notices of eviction on December 14, 2020, some occupants left. Id. ¶ 9. But several individuals have since flocked to the encampment, supposedly “helping unhoused people” leave the park and supposedly “building barricades to defend against police violence.” Dkt. # 2 at 2. Now, besides the residents of Cal Anderson Park, there are about 200 civilians “in and around the barricades” who are “prepared to defend the encampment” from the intended sweep. Id. Yesterday morning, the day of the intended sweep, Ms. Yeager filed this action and moved for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) and preliminary injunction enjoining the City from executing the sweep. Dkt. ## 1, 2. Although the City had not been served with the complaint or motion, attorneys for the City appeared in this matter and attended a 3:30 p.m. telephonic hearing with the Court and Ms. Yeager’s counsel. Dkt. # 9. At the end of the hearing, the Court took Ms. Yeager’s motion under submission.1 Like a preliminary injunction, issuance of a TRO is “an extraordinary remedy never awarded as of right.” Garcia v. Google, Inc., 786 F.3d 733, 740 (9th Cir. 2015). Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(b), a party seeking a TRO must make a clear showing (1) of a likelihood of success on the merits, (2) of a likelihood of suffering irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, (3) that the balance of hardship tips in her favor, and (4) that a temporary restraining order in is in the public interest. Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008) (articulating standard for preliminary injunction); Stuhlbarg Int’l Sales Co. v. John D. Brush & Co., 240 F.3d 832, 839 n.7 (9th Cir. 2001) (noting that preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order standards are “substantially identical”). A. Ex Parte Relief Under Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a court may issue a temporary restraining order without notice to the adverse party only if “specific facts in an affidavit or a verified complaint clearly show that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the movant before the adverse party can be heard in opposition,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b)(1)(A), and only if the movant’s attorney certifies “any efforts made to give notice and the reasons why it should not be required,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b)(1)(B). Further, under the Local Rules, issuing TROs without notice is “disfavored.” Local Rules W.D. Wash. LCR 65. “Unless the requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b) for

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