Conformed pages Complaint 
Finally, common sense prevails in Santa Monica “related to housing laws”! In the Federal (9th Circuit) case of Salisbury v. City of Santa Monica (2021) What is even more entertaining, is the video argument. Check it out: Salisbury Video of Oral Argument Judge Bea is so cool and old school, really knows how to get to the point!
This case was about a non-tenant, who stayed in a mobile home after his father died. He wanted a parking space closer to his mobile home. Instead he got booted out! The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed a summary judgment in favor of the City of Santa Monica by in a case brought by a man whose spinal condition which made his walking painful who was denied permission to park his car next to his mobile home, on a city mobile home park. The man did NOT have a lease nor paid any rent.
Senior Circuit Judge Carlos Bea wrote the city (as a lessor) had no duty under the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (“FHAA”) to accommodate plaintiff Lawrence Salisbury’s disability. Salisbury’s father had occupied the space in the Mountain View Mobile Home Park from 1974 until his death in 2013, and Plaintiff’s father had paid rent. The City had tried to get the Plaintiff to vacate since 2011. A prior state court action by Salisbury to block eviction was dismissed on procedural grounds.
The Law of FHAA was found to not apply e.g. no standing. While the FHAA makes it it unlawful makes “[t]o discriminate in the sale or rental, or to otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any buyer or renter because of a handicap” or “[t]o discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection with such dwelling, because of a handicap.” this Plaintiff was simply NOT a tenant.
“The relevant operative language of the FHAA bars discrimination “in the sale or rental” of a dwelling, “in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling,” and “in the provision of services or facilities in connection with such dwelling.”