Irreparable Harm

IRREPRABABLE HARM
Preliminary Injunctions

Judge orders Los Angeles to move thousands of homeless people

Downtown L.A. : April 22, 2020

We Need State Accountability for Providing Housing for People with Mental Illness [& People with Other Cognitive Disabilities]

"The city of Los Angeles and LA County must find shelter for thousands of homeless people who are living near freeways, a federal judge ordered Friday, saying their health is at risk from pollution, earthquakes and the coronavirus.

"U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction requiring relocation of an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 people camping near freeway ramps and under overpasses and bridges. He gave officials one week — until May 22 — to come up with a plan for providing "humane" housing."

ADA -- Title II, US Dept. of Justice & Support for Preliminary Injunction Requests

2009 DOJ Amicus Memorandum in North Carolina ADA --Title II Case

UNITED STATES’ MEMORANDUM AS AMICUS CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION (2009)

Court: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA WESTERN DIVISION

Parties

Plaintiffs: MARLO M., by her guardians and next friends WILLIAM and CARLETTE PARRIS, and DURWOOD W. by his, guardian and next friend WILLIE WILLIAMS
Defendants: LANIE CANSLER, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and KAREN SALACKI, in her official capacity as Area Director of The Beacon Center Local Management Entity

ARGUMENT

Plaintiffs Are Likely to Succeed on the Merits of their Title II Claim Alleging Defendants’ Termination of Plaintiffs’ Funding Puts Them at Risk of Institutionalization in Violation of the ADA
Plaintiffs Are Likely to Suffer Irreparable Harm if Defendants Are Not Enjoined
The Balance of Hardship Tips in Plaintiffs’ Favor
Granting a Preliminary Injunction is in the Public Interest

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

Homeless Houstonians Granted Temporary Restraining Order to Prevent Arrests for Public Camping

See also:

Preliminary Injunctions: Irreparable Harm

The Public Interest Factor in the Federal Preliminary Injunction Standard

Michigan Law Review

The Preliminary Injunction Standard: Understanding the Public Interest Factor
(2019)

By M. Devon Moore

CONCLUSION

Analysis of the public interest factor suffers from a lack of consistency. This inconsistency is reflected not only in courts’ analysis of the factor but also in the circuit split on the weight that the factor should be given.

Courts should focus their analysis and weighing of the public interest factor on the identity of the parties, the number of directly affected nonparties, the underlying cause of action, and the scope of injunctive relief requested.

These considerations, while not dispositive in every case, will bring homogeneity to this factor while leaving ample room for judicial discretion.

This structure gives substance to the public interest factor, moving it from an afterthought to the foreground. In working through this framework, courts will spend more time writing (and thinking) about the public interest.

That is a good thing—for courts, for litigants, and for the public.