
Fund for Empowerment v. Phoenix, City of
What's at Stake
Fund for Empowerment is a challenge to the City of Phoenix’s practice of conducting sweeps of encampments without notice, issuing citations to unsheltered people for camping and sleeping on public property when they have no place else to go, and confiscating and destroying their property without notice or process.
Summary
The ACLU of Arizona filed a lawsuit against the City of Phoenix seeking an immediate stop to its unconstitutional practices that exacerbate the homelessness crisis by punishing unsheltered individuals for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go and destroying their personal property without notice.
The lawsuit argued that the City’s practices violated the protections of the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The City conducted unconstitutional raids targeting the unsheltered community without notice. During these raids, unsheltered people were given mere minutes to collect and move their personal belongings. Any belongings unsheltered people were unable to collect in time were destroyed. The City also issued citations to unsheltered people for sleeping and camping in public, even though they had nowhere else to go. Finally, the City knowingly created a danger by pushing unsheltered people into a large encampment nicknamed the Zone.
Filed on behalf of the Fund for Empowerment (FFE), the lawsuit also represents three individual plaintiffs, Frank Urban, Faith Kearns, and Ronnie Massingille, who have been directly impacted by previous raids and have received citations due to their status as unsheltered individuals.
This lawsuit sought immediate relief for unsheltered community members by asking the Court to order the City of Phoenix to halt plans for future raids and prevent Phoenix police from enforcing city ordinances that criminalize homelessness.
UPDATE – December 16, 2022: In an early victory for the unsheltered community, the court issued an order 1) blocking the City from enforcing its Camping and Sleeping bans and 2) preventing the City from seizing unsheltered people’s property without adequate notice, and 3) forbidding the City from destroying personal property during raids.
Legal Documents
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11/30/2022
Complaint -
11/30/2022
Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum of Points and Authorities -
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11/30/2022
Declarations of Faith Kearns, Frank Urban, Elizabeth Venable, and Eric Daniel Brickley
Fund for Empowerment v. Phoenix, City ofLegal DocumentsDeclarations of Faith Kearns, Frank Urban, Elizabeth Venable, and Eric Daniel BrickleyDownload DocumentDate Filed: 11/30/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
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11/30/2022
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12/09/2022
Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction -
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12/09/2022
Declarations of Rachel Milne, Scott Hall, Brian Freudenthal, and Gina Montes
Fund for Empowerment v. Phoenix, City ofLegal DocumentsDeclarations of Rachel Milne, Scott Hall, Brian Freudenthal, and Gina MontesDownload DocumentDate Filed: 12/09/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
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12/09/2022
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12/13/2022
Plaintiffs' Reply in support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction -
12/15/2022
Abbreviated Preliminary Injunction Order -
12/16/2022
Full Preliminary Injunction Order -
12/13/2022
Plaintiffs' Declaration of Ronnie Lee Massingille -
12/13/2022
Defendants' Supplemental Declaration of Brian Freudenthal -
12/14/2022
Tully Bailey LLP Letter to the Honorable Judge John J. Tuchi -
12/16/2022
Tully Bailey LLP Amicus Brief in opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction -
01/13/2023
Plaintiffs' 1st Amended Complaint -
02/10/2023
Defendants' Answer to Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint -
05/16/2023
Plaintiffs' Request for Modification of PI and Motion for Order to Show Cause -
05/16/2023
Declaration of Elizabeth Venable -
05/16/2023
Declaration of Ronnie Massingille -
05/16/2023
Declaration of Eric Elmore -
05/16/2023
Eric Elmore Exhibits 5-A to 5-I -
05/16/2023
Eric Elmore Exhibits 5-J to 5-S -
05/16/2023
Declaration of Eric Brickley -
05/16/2023
Declaration of Doug Maloney
Date Filed: 11/30/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 11/30/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/09/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/13/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/15/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/16/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/13/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/13/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/14/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 12/16/2022
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 01/13/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 02/10/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)
Date Filed: 05/16/2023
Court: District Court (D. Ariz.)