Homeless Could Be Part Of Class Action Lawsuit Over Property Removal
DENVER (CBS4)- Names are being collected for a class action lawsuit that involves the homeless in Denver over the removal of their property earlier this year.
A civil rights lawyer has started gathering names for a lawsuit that could go into the millions.
In March, the city removed personal possessions that littered the streets around the Denver Rescue Mission in the Ballpark neighborhood. Waste crews and police removed tents, bags of belongings and other makeshift shelters.
Those belongings were placed in a storage space and kept for 60 days until the rightful owners could retrieve them. Only one person went to the collection space on Glenarm.
"My belongings were thrown in the trash and I would like to get reimbursed for that because I'm homeless and I don't have anything else," said Kenyatta Maklin.
"I watched my stuff being thrown in the dump truck and I asked for my stuff off the truck and they told me it was too late, it was already gone," said John Padilla.
A similar lawsuit in California led to an award of more than $2 million.
Civil rights attorney Jason Flores-Williams said it's not about the money, it's about civil rights.