Pifferini v. City of Eureka, 1:24-cv-09191

Plaintiff Kelly Shane Pifferini, an unhoused resident of Eureka, sued the City of Eureka and specific officers, challenging the enforcement of local anti-camping and property storage ordinances.
Plaintiff alleges the ordinances make it impossible for him to comply with the law due to his homelessness, resulting in repeated harassment, property loss, and arrest by police.
The City’s anti-camping ordinance, E.M.C. § 93.02, was passed in response to the Ninth Circuit’s Martin v. Boise decision, but does not specify where legal camping is tolerated.
Plaintiff claims enforcement sweeps all public areas, with police refusing to direct unhoused persons to legal camping sites, leading to constant risk of citation or loss of property.
The City’s property storage ordinance, E.M.C. § 130.14, allows for seizure and destruction of belongings left in public areas with various exceptions, which Plaintiff alleges is applied discriminatorily.
The case is at the motion to dismiss stage; all allegations are taken as true for purposes of the motion.

Issue	Plaintiff’s Argument	Defendant’s Argument	Held
Eighth Amendment challenge to anti-camping ordinance	Ordinance effectively criminalizes homelessness; no legal camping areas designated	Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision allows such bans	Dismissed with prejudice; Grants Pass forecloses Eighth Amendment claim
Discriminatory enforcement of property storage ordinance (Equal Protection)	Ordinance applied differently to housed vs. unhoused; harsher enforcement on homeless	No response at motion stage	Claim survives; Plaintiff may pursue injunctive relief, not damages
Due process violations (notice for property seizures)	Inadequate/confusing notices, improper seizure with loss of property	Plaintiff did not lose property due to deficient notice	No damages claim; injunctive relief available due to risk of future harm
Claims against individual officers (Stevens, Graham, Omey)	Officers responsible for unconstitutional enforcement, false arrest, improper seizure	Officers lack individual liability, no sufficient facts pled	Official capacity claims dismissed as redundant; individual capacity claims dismissed but leave to amend allowed

City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, 603 U.S. 520 (2024) (Supreme Court held anti-camping bans on public property do not violate the Eighth Amendment, overturning Martin v. City of Boise)
Powell v. Texas, 392 U.S. 514 (1968) (distinguishes criminalizing status from criminalizing conduct, foundational to Grants Pass)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) (sets pleading standard; complaint must plausibly state claim)