Lawsuit Over Fullerton’s Camping Ban to Be Dropped : Jurisprudence: Legal Aid Society says that since city has no immediate plans to enforce the law, ‘we don’t feel a present need to challenge it.’

The Legal Aid Society of Orange County will drop its lawsuit today challenging Fullerton’s ban on camping on public property, because the city has no immediate plans to enforce the law, a Legal Aid attorney said Tuesday.

Fullerton city officials have “agreed to give us 10 days notice if they intend to enforce” the law, which would prompt a refiling of the lawsuit, said Legal Aid attorney Harry Simon.

“Since they don’t feel a present need to enforce it, we don’t feel a present need to challenge it,” he said.

An Orange County Superior Court judge in April upheld a similar Santa Ana law that bans camping on public property, but that ruling has been appealed by the Legal Aid Society, Simon said. In the meantime, the appellate court has restrained the city from enforcing its law until a decision is issued on the appeal, he said.

Public interest lawyers sued three Orange County cities in September, 1992, challenging the constitutionality of ordinances that prohibit the homeless from camping in public places.

“Making homelessness a crime cannot eliminate the problem of homelessness,” Simon said at the time. “These ordinances are not a magic wand that will prevent people who lack housing from living on the streets.”

The Legal Aid Society lawsuit against Fullerton also is pending, but no hearing date has been set, Simon said. However, Simon said to his knowledge Fullerton has not enforced its ban.