Program areas at LCCR
Racial JusticeIn response to LCCRSFs litigation, the California Court of Appeal became the first state court in the nation to find that the warrantless seizure and sale of a persons vehicle--just because they cannot afford to pay parking tickets--is a violation of the U.S. and California Constitutions. That victory is binding on all jurisdictions in California and protects tens of thousands of low-income residents. The decision redounds across the United States. The Ninth Circuit heard argument and upheld the district court injunction LCCRSF secured against San Francisco for engaging in the mass criminalization of homelessness and for destroying the survival belongings of unhoused individuals who obviously had no access to shelter or housing amidst the Citys affordable housing crisis. LCCRSF co-sponsored two bills before the California Legislature in 2023AB1266 & AB1082. AB12166 advocated for the elimination of bench warrants for infraction offensesdisrupting peoples lives and taxing our criminal legal system needlessly for minor offenses posing no risk to public safety. AB1082 advocated for the elimination of poverty tows across California, and improvements to payment plans for those for those who cannot afford to pay their traffic tickets. Both bills cleared the Assembly. AB1082 remains live in the Senate and will be reviewed next term. LCCRSF continued its campaign against Californias massive traffic late fees known as civil assessments, disproportionately given to low-income Californians. LCCRSF had already won a lawsuit against the Judicial Council of California and San Mateo Superior Court challenging the fee, and now work continues to advocate for systemic change in each and every traffic court across California. LCCRSF helped represent more than a dozen unhoused individuals in pursuing claims against San Francisco for the destruction of their survival belongings while they were homeless, in violation of their civil rights. LCCRSF continued developing the Peoples Clinic, which supports clients who have been the victims of police violence or misconduct. The clinic has filed several small claims lawsuits and numerous administrative claims against harmful police and sheriff departments, and secured significant settlements for at least two clients.
Economic JusticeLCCRSF continues to provide representation for low-income entrepreneurs facing challenges in San Francisco due to gentrification and increasing rents. Our services were all the more urgent amid COVID-19, when the number of small business clients seeking help with commercial leases increased tenfold. In addition, we:Advanced San Franciscos municipal bank plan for consideration as early as 2023 potentially the first in the nation. LCCRSF is an active member of the Reinvest SF Working Group and, along with the SF Public Bank Coalition, has been advocating for a bank that invests in true affordable housing, locally and minority-owned businesses, green infrastructure, and local credit unions. Cities across the nation are currently exploring the creation of their own banks. LCCRSF helped pass the historic Public Banking Act (AB857) allowing for the creation of municipal chartered banks and informed the development of the Reinvest in San Francisco Act. We are also working to garner the legislature and governors support for expanded banking access, including a statewide public bank that will loan to small businesses owned by Californians of color, and reinvest returns on tax dollars into our communities. Hosted workshops and legal clinics and produced educational materials for 800+ small business participants over the past year. Topics covered by our multilingual workshops and clinics included: ADA compliance, business law basics, Oaklands and San Franciscos eviction moratoria and commercial leasing, employment law basics, bankruptcy, know your contracts, and know your rights.
Immigrant JusticeAs challenges to asylum mount, LCCRSFs asylum program continues to use a trauma-informed approach to assess client needs and matches asylum seekers with representation, in addition to providing training to volunteer attorneys.During the fiscal year, LCCRSF secured asylum and related relief for nearly sixty individuals. We trained over 500 attorneys on asylum law, and matched asylum seekers with in-house or pro bono counsel to represent them in their affirmative asylum applications or in removal proceedings before the San Francisco Immigration Court. Each year, LCCRSFs staff and pro bono attorneys provide high quality legal representation, support, and counseling for nearly 400 individual clients with on-going cases.Our immigrant justice team also continues to score victories for immigrant justice, both for individual clients and the following impact cases:LCCRSF continues to lead the nationwide effort to hold the U.S. government accountable for the harm caused by its 2018 family separation policy, which ripped immigrant families apart at the border in an effort to deter asylum seekers from accessing their right to seek protection in the U.S. LCCRSF continues to advise and mentor hundreds of teams as they seek to settle administrative and litigated claims on behalf of formerly separated families nationwide. LCCRSF also has paved a path for litigation success for separated families who settled in our community in Northern California. Our team notched wins in numerous discovery disputes in P.G. v. United States, and the U.S. government declined to file a motion for summary judgment, clearing the way for trial in May 2024. Discovery continues apace in our other co-counseled cases seeking damages for the emotional distress caused by family separation. LCCRSF litigated to settlement the first lawsuit for damages under the Accountability in Detention Act on behalf of Carlos Murillo Vega. Mr. Murillo asked to live in protective custody after the private prison company that held him in immigration detention told him that being housed in the general population would be dangerous. For 14 months and despite many requests to be moved to the general population Mr. Murillo was locked in a tiny cell for 22 hours a day. Mr. Murillos case survived a motion for summary judgment and resulted in a settlement agreement, laying the groundwork for many more Accountability in Detention Act cases with the ultimate goal of undercutting the profit motive behind private detention.LCCRSF is fighting to protect the right to bring habeas cases on behalf of immigrant detainees held in California detention centers in the Northern District of California. After LCCRSF successfully litigated an individual habeas case, the government appealed to the Ninth Circuit, arguing that venue and jurisdiction were improper in the Northern District of California. LCCRSF has filed an answering brief, supported by numerous amici, seeking to protect jurisdiction in the San Francisco Bay Area.