Challenge to Unconstitutional Gang Injunction Restrictions that Violated the Rights of Thousands of Angelenos

For years, nearly 6,000 residents of Los Angeles lived under draconian curfew restrictions (many prohibiting them from being outside after 10 p.m.) due to the creation and enforcement of 26 unconstitutional gang injunctions. Law enforcement officers could add one’s name to a gang injunction list with virtually no verification or oversight, serve them the injunction, and significantly constrain that person’s liberty.

These injunctions not only enforced curfews but also restricted association and movement, often based on vague and broad criteria, effectively criminalizing everyday activities and disproportionately impacting communities of color. The enforcement of these injunctions often led to harassment, wrongful arrests, and a pervasive fear of law enforcement among the affected populations. Once on the list, individuals had little recourse to get their names removed. 

In 2009, Christian Rodriguez and Alberto Cazarez were arrested at the community center they helped build in the Mar Vista Gardens housing project. These young men, merit-based college scholarship recipients, had been incorrectly labeled as gang members by the LAPD. Because they lived in Mar Vista Gardens, stepping out their front doors placed them in an injunction zone. They were arrested for violating the 10 p.m. curfew imposed by a gang injunction—even though at the time, the LAPD knew these curfews had been declared unconstitutional by California courts in 2007.

In 2011, Christian and Alberto courageously challenged the City of Los Angeles’ unconstitutional curfew provisions in a federal class action lawsuit. They were represented by Public Counsel, Olu K. Orange, Esq., and Hadsell Stormer & Renick LLP.

The lawsuit argued that the vague wording of the curfew clauses in the injunctions led to discriminatory and arbitrary police harassment, violating the rights of Angelenos in affected neighborhoods—who were predominantly Black or Latino. These oppressive conditions prevented residents from visiting family, pursuing job opportunities, and advancing their educational and career goals.

Judge Gee certified a federal class of approximately 6,000 members. The class alleged that the curfew provision resulted in discriminatory and arbitrary harassment of individuals who lived in the injunction zones’ socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

In 2016, the Court approved a groundbreaking settlement with the City of Los Angeles agreeing to invest up to $30 million over four years in a job training and apprenticeships program for class members. Due to complications and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and low program enrollment, the settlement duration was extended past the initial four-year period.

The settlement provides these benefits to class members:

• For a class member or close family member: education, job training, job placement services, or support in their current job, with a monetary stipend available for certain portions of the training.
• Tattoo removal services.
• All class members were removed from the gang injunction, and LAPD will no longer enforce the gang injunctions against class members.

Class members can apply for settlement benefits by visiting: www.gangcase.com

UPDATE, MAY 8, 2024 – A federal judge ordered the City of Los Angeles to indefinitely extend the jobs and education program created in restitution for unjust police curfew orders as the program undergoes a forensic audit. The audit will be conducted by an independent examiner, overseen by a special master, and is aimed at ascertaining the facts related to overspending on program administration and deterring class members from participating in the program through delays in application processing and reimbursing class members for settlement-covered expenses.  Upon conclusion of the audit, the special master will recommend to the court appropriate reforms.

Public Counsel took the City back to court after learning people were being turned away and subjected to an unnecessarily difficult process for obtaining program benefits. The program also spent as much as three times the amount allowed on administrative expenses, all while the vast majority of class members have received nothing from the program. 

For more info regarding this ruling, the press release is here.

Anyone eligible for the program created under the settlement who is struggling to get the full benefit of the program should contact the class member hotline at 310-997-0380 for assistance.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 – The Court has appointed the Honorable Winifred Y. Smith (Ret.) to serve as special master, and B. Riley Advisory Services as forensic wxaminer. Judge Smith will oversee B. Riley’s forensic examination of the City’s spending on the settlement-created “Jobs and Education” program. The program is administered by the Economic & Workforce Development Department (EWDD) through some of its pre-existing network of contractor WorkSource Centers.

The forensic examination will account for the approximately $13 million allocated to the program since 2016-2017 and determine the precise amount spent by EWDD and its WorkSource Centers on “administrative costs,” as that term is defined in the Settlement Agreement, which caps those costs in order to ensure settlement funds primarily benefit class members. In addition, the audit will investigate Class Counsel’s allegations of denials and delays in services (including reimbursements to Class Members) due to funding allocation issues.