Lawsuit Settled; Homeless to Get $400,000

The future looks brighter for 30 homeless people since the City Council decided Monday to pay them $400,000 to settle civil rights lawsuits stemming from their arrests at the Civic Center last year.

One man vowed to give some of his money to the charitable organizations that had given him food and shelter. Another looked forward to getting cleaned up and buying new clothes.

About two dozen of those who will share in the settlement gathered Tuesday at the offices of the Legal Aid Society of Orange County to learn more details. Most of them said they would look for jobs.

Nine who agreed to be interviewed said they know the money will not make them millionaires but they hope it will give them what few people get in life--a second chance.

“I want to show the people here that the people on the street . . . all they need is an opportunity,” said a 46-year-old man who asked not to be identified out of fear that publicity surrounding the case might prompt robberies. “I am an example of one who is going to make it.”

Never again, they hoped, would they be subjected to the treatment they received last summer when Santa Ana police arrested more than 60 homeless people on charges ranging from jaywalking to littering.

In lawsuits filed last month, the plaintiffs claimed their civil rights were violated during the police sweeps of the Civic Center. Those arrested were taken to Santa Ana Stadium, where their forearms were stamped with red identification numbers. They were held for several hours.

When the city attempted to press charges, Municipal Judge B. Tam Nomoto threw the case out and declared the city’s actions illegal and discriminatory.

As part of an agreement the plaintiffs made among themselves, 28 will receive $11,000 checks from the city on Friday. Another two who claimed they were roughed up by police will receive $22,250.

Nonprofit legal centers that participated in the lawsuit will receive 10% of the total award as part of the plan. Each plaintiff also will donate $250 to give a homeless woman an equal share of the settlement.

The woman, suffering from cancer, had accepted a $5,000 settlement from the city.

City officials conceded that they settled the case because it would have cost too much to take it to court. The city estimated that its own legal costs would have totaled $450,000, excluding legal fees it would have had to pay to the plaintiffs’ lawyers if the city had lost.

One plaintiff, Clemente Ruiz, 32, did not live to see the settlement. He was fatally shot in the head last week by an unknown attacker, a lawyer connected with the case said.