Judge dismisses most of homeless lawsuit against San Diego, allows two claims to proceed

A judge has dismissed most claims in a lawsuit that accuses San Diego of discriminating against homeless people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic but allowed two claims to proceed, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. 

Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal backed San Diego city and county in dismissing four claims in the lawsuit as insufficient to proceed to trial.

Bacal, however, allowed two claims to move forward, one that alleges county officials violated the state’s government code section that prohibits discrimination and another one that asks for a judicial claim the defendants acted improperly, according to the Tribune. 

“Petitioners are on their third iteration of their complaint,” Bacal said “And they seem to be no closer to identifying a ministerial duty with which either the city or county failed to comply.”

The case was filed in 2020 and alleges San Diego city and county officials discriminated toward homeless people who have disabilities by denying them help unless they move to a temporary shelter in the city’s Convention Center, which led to them risking their health and safety to do so, the Tribune reported. 

Disability Rights California senior attorney Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi told the Tribune that the case will still proceed in court even with the attempt from city officials to stop it. 

“The claim concerning discrimination in state-funded programs is intact and the court granted the opportunity to add facts to support violations of two additional anti-discrimination laws, including the Unruh Civil Rights Act,” Ijadi-Maghsoodi said. “In the coming days, we will be analyzing next steps with our clients.”

A case management conference is going to be held in October, the Tribune noted.