By FRED SHUSTER | City News Service
Los Angeles County filed papers with an appeals court late Thursday, May 11, to compel a federal judge to sign off on a settlement agreement with a coalition of downtown business owners and residents alleging that local government has not done enough to help remedy the homelessness crisis.
In its March 2020 lawsuit, the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights alleged that inaction by the city and county of Los Angeles has created a dangerous environment in the Skid Row area and beyond.
The plaintiffs settled with the city last June in an agreement approved by U.S. District Judge David Carter, who is overseeing the case.
In April, Carter — for the second time in five months — rejected the county’s settlement offer, denying the county and the L.A. Alliance’s joint stipulation to dismiss the case, saying he needed more “oversight and enforcement powers.”
The county then attempted to stay proceedings while it prepared to appeal Carter’s denial to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but Carter rejected that effort last week.
At a scheduling conference Tuesday, the judge set a jury trial date for Nov. 6 in Los Angeles federal court.
In its petition to the Ninth Circuit, filed late Thursday, the county asked for a stay in proceedings and an order to compel Carter to vacate his April order, enforce the settlement agreement and dismiss the case.
The county argued in the petition that Carter’s “rulings and the court’s conduct are unprecedented. They are also clearly erroneous and exceed the bounds” of the district court’s authority.
“We are filing this appeal because the court’s insistence on dictating the terms and implementation of a private settlement between the county and LA Alliance goes against legal precedent, the rules of civil procedure and the constitutional separation of powers,” Mira Hashmall, an outside attorney for the county in the lawsuit, said in a statement Thursday night.
“All of…
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