The city of Sedona has been named in a lawsuit involving a dispute between a Sedona woman and her landlord.
The plaintiff, Sabrina Beram, filed the lawsuit on April 2 in the U.S. District Court of Arizona by Community Legal Services, a Prescott-based firm that provides legal services to those who can’t afford a private attorney.
The suit was filed against the city as well as Wyndham Apartments LLC and its property management company, Sanjo Investments.
The city’s answer or response deadline to the lawsuit is set for Monday, May 31.
According to the lawuist, Beram signed a year-lease on April 14, 2020. The suit states that Beram “is an individual with a severe, chronic anxiety disorder of the obsessive compulsive type,” which on occasion prevents her from entering her home. When this happens it states she chooses to sleep in her vehicle in the complex’s parking lot where she lives. It also notes that Beram estimates she sleeps in her car upwards of 50% of the time during any given week.
But the property management company sees it a bit different.
In a pair of emails, according to the suit, the management company on Nov. 25 stated that it would not renew Beram’s lease. The second alleges that she breached her rental agreement and states, “Per lines 263-270 of your lease agreement dated 5/15/2020 you are to immediately cease and desist any and all rental of your unit to others.”
Beram responded the following week and said she never rented out her apartment to others. Community Legal Services accepted the case in December and wrote a letter to Sanjo requesting a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act.
On Feb. 10 of this year, Community Legal Services sent a letter to Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarty requesting the city grant Beram a “reasonable modification to [city] code that would relieve Sabrina from any penalty attached to violation of the code on public or private property in the city of Sedona due to her disability.”
In that same letter to Moriarty, Community Legal Services attest that city code is unconstitutional under the Eight Amendment, which prohibits excessive bail.
A letter sent to Sanjo requested they allow Beram to sign a new lease, allowing her to sleep in her vehicle when needed. They responded by stating she could continue living there until April 30.
The lawsuit states that Beram’s rights are being violated under the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act and the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments by punishing her for her condition.
City’s Response
City Attorney Kurt Christianson responded to Community Legal Services on Feb. 22. In a portion of his response he wrote that, “Here, the ADA does not apply because the city is not providing any public accommodation, facility, service, program or activity. The accommodation in question is purely residential housing. Indeed, the city is not in the business of providing housing. Furthermore, even if the ADA did apply, the requested modification is not reasonable.”
Christianson went on to write that the city does not have to authority to grant Beram’s request to sleep on whatever private property she finds necessary nor can the city guarantee that she would not be prosecuted for doing so based on city code.
He also stated that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit case of Martin v. City of Boise (2019) case — which allow people to sleep in public places when no homeless shelters are available in a city — does not apply in this case since the apartment complex is on private property.
“Additionally, the request is not reasonable because sleeping in a car is not safe due to the heightened risks of robbery or injury in a car accident, or healthy given the extreme hot and cold temperatures that can occur in Sedona and the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning when using a stationary motor vehicle during those times.”
The lawsuit states that Beram is demanding a jury trial and in terms of compensation, she seeks being allowed to remain living in the complex in question and that the city is prohibited from charging or convicting her of violating city code for sleeping her vehicle. It also includes the awarding of legal fees and any further relief for Beram the court deems proper.
Christianson told the Sedona Red Rock News the city has had no contact with Beram and no citations have been issued by law enforcement.
In addition, he said the property management company has never contacted the city regarding Beram sleeping in her vehicle.
He also that the supposed reasoning for including the city in the lawsuit is because the property management company is using city code as the basis for the eviction. But, he has not seen any correspondence between Beram and the property management.
Attorneys from Community Legal Services were asked once by email and once by phone why, considering these circumstances, the city was included in the lawsuit. The law firm provided no response to either of these inquiries.
