A Missouri woman who called the police at least four times for protection from an abusive boyfriend is suing the city where she lived after the authorities deemed her a nuisance and ordered her to leave her home, according to her lawsuit.
The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on Friday on behalf of Rosetta Watson, 58, is likely to put a spotlight on so-called nuisance policies.
The lawsuit says they had a role in violating Ms. Watson’s rights through an ordinance that allows the city to remove residents from their homes and bar them from living anywhere in the city for six months if they are deemed a nuisance. The policy defines one form of nuisance as more than two incidents of domestic violence that result in calls to the police within a 180-day period.
The defendants are accused of using the ordinance to revoke Ms. Watson’s occupancy permit and housing subsidy, and then bar her from living in Maplewood for six months, according to the lawsuit.
The policy “resulted in significant harms to Ms. Watson, including violation of constitutional rights, loss of her home and long-term housing stability, as well as severe and ongoing emotional suffering and mental anguish,” the lawsuit says. Sandra Park, an A.C.L.U. senior lawyer, said in a phone interview that Ms. Watson was seeking unspecified monetary damages.
The lawsuit says that in June 2010, Ms. Watson, who was supporting herself with a housing subsidy and disability benefits, started renting her home from a private landlord in Maplewood, a city of about 8,000 people located about seven miles west of St. Louis.
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