You can read up on the background in this 2015 LA times story and also in our multiple stories on the subject. Most of the paper filed in the case is available here.
About five weeks ago a pending settlement was announced in the monumental street vending case brought by brave local civil rights attorneys on behalf of a number of street vendors against the diabolical forces of the City of Los Angeles and the Fashion District BID.
Well, nothing moves fast in Federal Court, so it’s no surprise that it’s taken this long to even get a hint of what’s happening behind the scenes. However, finally, yesterday afternoon plaintiffs’ attorney Carol Sobel filed a status report (transcription of this PDF after the break) with the court stating that things are moving along, that the City has cut a check for the settlement amount, presumably $150,000 as previously announced, and that the plaintiffs have signed the release. The defendants have not yet signed, but she anticipates that everything will be finished and the case will be dismissed within two weeks.1
Transcription of January 16, 2018 status report:
The parties previously filed a Joint Notice of Tentative Settlement with the Court. The parties initially informed the Court that they anticipated completion of the settlement in this action no later than December 1, 2017. Subsequently, the parties informed the Court that the required approval process took longer than expected, but was anticipated to be completed by the end of December, 2017.
Late this afternoon, Plaintiffs were notified by the City that the settlement check is ready. Although all of the Plaintiffs signed the settlement and release, the defendants have not done so yet. Nonetheless, Plaintiffs anticipate filing a notice of dismissal with prejudice within the next two weeks.
January 16, 2018
ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
LAW OFFICE OF CAROL A. SOBEL
LAW OFFICE OF CYNTHIA ANDERSON-BARKER
LEGAL AID FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES
SCHONBRUN SEPLOW HARRIS & HOFFMAN
- Actually, things are moderately more complicated than that. Early in December the judge, Andre Birotte, issued an order granting the parties until December 30, 2017 to finish the settlement process. That date came and went with nothing being filed. This is bad, as federal judges can mess you up if you don’t stick to their schedules, or at least so I’m told. Thus on January 10, 2018, did Birotte issue an order stating: “(IN CHAMBERS) ORDER RE SETTLEMENT by Judge André Birotte Jr.: On December 6, 2017, the Court issued an Order extending the time to complete settlement to and through December 30, 2017 (Dkt. No. 69). To date, no papers have been filed. The parties are ordered to file a status report regarding the status of settlement by no later than January 16, 2018. If the settlement is completed before that date, Plaintiffs are to file a dismissal with prejudice.”. (This was a text-only order, which is why I’m not posting an associated PDF). Carol Sobel’s report came on the last day of this deadline. That’s the whole story, but the result is the same as if I hadn’t gone into it. Hence its relegation to this footnote.
