Miami Settles Lawsuit Claiming It Trashed Homeless Residents' Meds, Family Ashes

The Miami City Commission has approved a $300,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed by four homeless people who said the city destroyed their belongings during an aggressive campaign to clear out homeless camps.

In addition to a $75,000 payout for each plaintiff, the settlement includes a series of protections for homeless Miamians to prevent their personal property from being discarded without notice. The plaintiffs' attorneys say the provisions are essential in light of the 2019 termination of the Pottinger consent decree, an agreement that had mandated court oversight of the City of Miami's treatment of homeless people since the late 1990s.

Among the plaintiffs was Latoyla Cooper-Levy, who said she lost her passport, phone, tent, and an urn holding her mother's ashes when the city carried out a sweep of the homeless encampment where she lived in 2021. The city discarded her work uniform, which led to her losing her job because she could not buy a new one, according to the complaint.

Under the settlement, city workers are required to take pictures of homeless residents' belongings before disposal or storage and to post notices in English, Spanish, and Creole warning of an upcoming cleanup at least 72 hours in advance.

"We achieved a policy that provides protections against destroying property that the city mistakenly decides is abandoned or contaminated, as the city will now tag property three days before disposing of it to allow owners time to claim their property," Southern Legal Counsel executive director Jodi Siegel said in announcing the settlement.

The settlement directs the city's Department of Human Services to maintain "improved records" that will catalogue property to help homeless owners recover their items. The deal sets up a process to ensure that if the owner of "small items of importance," such as identification cards, medicine, or eyeglasses, is readily identifiable, the city will store the items and attempt to contact the owner.

Per the city, the settlement resolves "all claims and demands," including those for attorneys' fees.

Legal Services of Greater Miami, Southern Legal Counsel, and the ACLU of Florida filed the lawsuit in June 2022, alleging that the city violated the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs — Cooper-Levy, Phillip Sylverin, Sherman Rivers, and Joseph Simmons — by indiscriminately tossing out their belongings.

Sylverin, who relies on a wheelchair for mobility, recounted how he had only a few minutes to recover his belongings when the city swept through his camp on NW 11th Street near the I-95 bridge in August 2021.

"City employees used a crane to place his personal property into a dump truck, including his tent, documents, furniture, and family photos," the lawsuit alleged.

Rivers said he lost his birth certificate, prescription medications, and $60 in change when the city cleared out his NW 11th Street camp.

The City of Miami sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiffs were alleging isolated instances where the city deviated from its policy of notifying homeless residents in advance of a camp cleanup — short of the "persistent and widespread" practice that would trigger municipal liability for civil rights violations.

The city also claimed that the homeless camps had sanitation issues and drug paraphernalia that made it difficult for workers to sort through belongings.

The presiding judge ruled in December 2022 that the lawsuit's allegations were sufficient to proceed toward trial, though the case never made it that far, as Miami commissioners approved the $300,000 settlement at their February 8 meeting.

As part of the agreement, the city will give unhoused people an opportunity to store "non-contaminated and non-bulky items" for up to 90 days when they opt to move into a shelter. Advocates say this will eliminate a barrier for homeless residents who are afraid to leave the majority of their personal belongings behind.

"I think it's really important to remember that the Constitution protects everyone's property, and that includes people who are unsheltered," Jeffrey Hearne, director of litigation at Legal Services of Greater Miami, told New Times when the lawsuit was filed. "These are people who are already sort of living on the edge. We should be finding ways to try to help them get into housing, rather than making it more difficult."

The homeless camp sweeps at the heart of the lawsuit followed an appeals court's 2020 decision to uphold the termination of the Pottinger agreement, which had been in place for two decades. Arising from Pottinger v. City of Miami (a class action over the treatment of the local homeless population in the 1980s), the agreement aimed to curb the city's practice of tossing out homeless residents' property and arresting them for sleeping in public places.

The appeals court decided that the city was in "substantial compliance" with the Pottinger agreement and that court oversight was no longer warranted. Months later, the Miami City Commission enacted a resolution directing the city manager to arrange a campaign to clear out homeless encampments, according to court documents. The city then passed an October 2021 ordinance that banned homeless camps and outlined a procedure for arresting homeless residents who refuse to leave them.

Stephen Schnably, a law professor at the University of Miami and an attorney with the ACLU of Florida, said that when the Pottinger protections were axed, the city made assurances that it would still respect homeless people's constitutional rights.

"This new settlement will help make that promise a reality," Schnably said.