Because of the lawsuit, the City of Lancaster provides a free appeal to people who cannot pay their fines and reviews certain citations targeting poor and unhoused residents.
In 2019, Leroy Butts, an elderly Black resident of Lancaster, was handing out know-your-rights pamphlets to unhoused people in a Lancaster park when he was ticketed for “public intoxication.” Mr. Butts was drinking a soda. It didn’t matter that he neither possessed nor had consumed alcohol: Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies issued him a $500 citation in clear retaliation for informing people of their rights to stay in the park. And under Lancaster’s punitive pay-to-appeal citation system, Mr. Butts could not appeal his citation until after he paid it—something he could not afford to do. From there, his debt was referred to a private collection agency that added more fees. He was told he would not be able to renew his driver’s license and that the city could file a claim against his income tax return.
Instead, Mr. Butts filed a lawsuit, alleging that Lancaster and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department “maintain[ed] an administrative citation system that [was] designed and enforced to punish poverty, in violation of the California Constitution.”
In 2022, a Superior Court judge agreed in significant part, holding that Lancaster’s citation system violated the due process and equal protection rights of poor individuals by denying them the right to a free appeal. Shortly after, Lancaster settled Mr. Butts’ challenge to the excessive fines and fees of the system. The city agreed to discharge all outstanding debt on public safety citations issued before February 2021, to impose lower fees and provide community service alternatives to fines, and to allow free administrative appeals of citations to people unable to pay the underlying fine.
In October 2023, Lancaster further agreed to a money settlement and new requirements for citations issued for “disturbing the peace,” “disorderly conduct” or sleeping or camping in public. After reaching a financial settlement with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in 2024, Mr. Butts and his counsel at The Social Justice Legal Foundation, ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and Hueston Hennigan LLP resolved the case entirely.
Mr. Butts’ victory is only a small part of a broader effort to decriminalize poverty and homelessness. Still, says Lars Odland, Impact Litigation Fellow at The Social Justice Legal Foundation, “as a result of Mr. Butts’ advocacy, indigent members of the Lancaster community can no longer be trapped in a pay-to-appeal citation system and law enforcement officers face additional scrutiny to ensure that they are properly issuing administrative citations.”
“This case affirms that every Californian should have a fair opportunity to access justice and relief from discriminatory policing, regardless of their wealth or economic status,” said Adrienna Wong, Senior Attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.
Mr. Butts was represented by Vanessa Domenichelli and Lars Odland of The Social Justice Legal Foundation, Tiffany M. Bailey and Adrienna Wong of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and Vicki Chou of Hueston Hennigan LLP.
