Rebecca Cooley v. The City of Los Angeles

I. INTRODUCTION

On October 21, 2018, plaintiffs Rebecca Cooley, Benjamin Hubert, and Casimir Zaroda filed the instant class action complaint against defendant City of Los Angeles (the “City”) and Does 1 through 10. Dkt. 1. Plaintiffs are unhoused persons who lived on or around 3rd Avenue and Rose Avenue in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. This action concerns an “area cleaning” performed by the City on September 15, 2017, wherein the City allegedly threw away plaintiffs’ essential belongings over their objections. On March 4, 2019, the City filed a motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8(a) and 12(b)(6). Dkt. 12. The Court granted in part and denied in part the City’s motion to dismiss. Dkt. 21. Plaintiffs filed a first amended complaint on May 22, 2019. Dkt. 24 (“FAC”). Plaintiffs allege claims on behalf of themselves and a class of approximately 60 individuals who also resided in the same area at the same time this incident occurred for: (1) violation of plaintiffs’ federal and state constitutional right to be secure from unreasonable seizures; (2) violation of plaintiffs’ federal and state constitutional right to…