Desertrain v. City of Los Angeles
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
754 F.3d 1147 (2014)
Los Angeles's (defendant) ordinance barred using a vehicle as living quarters "overnight, day-to-day, or otherwise" without defining "living quarters" or "otherwise"; homeless plaintiffs were cited for conduct including eating in a car, keeping a sleeping bag and books inside, talking on a cell phone in a car, and sheltering from rain, while similar conduct by others went uncited, and the district court granted summary judgment to the city.
Whether a municipal law prohibiting the use of automobiles as living quarters is unconstitutionally vague in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment if the law fails to explicitly state what conduct is punishable.