J.P. Florida Productions recruited men experiencing homelessness and mental illnesses or other disabilities to participate in “homeless beatdowns.” The company's employees offered the men $50 to let a female mixed martial arts fighter beat them for 12 minutes on camera. The men were not permitted to defend themselves and suffered multiple injuries as a result of the beatings, including broken bones and other serious injuries. Their beatings were taped and sold on the company's website.

For more than five years, indigent litigants in the Florida Sixth Judicial Circuit were denied access to appellate courts for one reason: they could not afford to pay the $400 filing fee. When SLC attempted to file appeals with the circuit court on behalf of homeless individuals, our clients had the courthouse doors slammed in their face due to an administrative order that prohibited filing fee waivers for indigent litigants. SLC challenged the administrative order. The appellate court ordered the circuit court to grant indigent filing fee waivers to all of our clients.

On behalf of homeless people who were trespassed from city parks, this case established that all people enjoy a constitutionally protected liberty interest to be in public places of their choosing and that the government must provide due process if it deprives people of this right by issuing trespass warnings. Co-counsel were the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and Florida Institutional Legal Services.

SLC and the ACLU of Florida achieved a victory in Marion County Court for Anthony Cummings, a homeless man who had been illegally assessed $824 in court costs and had his driver’s license suspended in three cases of “open lodging” under an Ocala ordinance. Municipal ordinance violations are not criminal under Florida law, and driver’s license suspensions are only permitted for unpaid criminal financial obligations.

In June 2011, in preparation for the final shuttle launch, the City of Titusville cleared 11 homeless encampments, destroying the personal property of a number of individuals who lived at these camps. The City used industrial equipment, employed temporary workers, and used pick-up trucks to sweep the property of homeless individuals. The City’s unlawful actions deprived people of personal belongings that are critical to their survival, such as clothing, medication, tents and blankets, as well as irreplaceable personal possessions, such as family photographs, a WWII flag, personal records, identification documents, and even the ashes of a deceased parent contained in an urn.

In May 2017, the City of Fort Lauderdale designed a plan to temporarily close Stranahan Park and the camp adjacent to the park by clearing out all debris and personal property belonging to residents of the camp. Sixteen individuals experiencing homelessness filed suit alleging that the City unlawfully seized and destroyed the plaintiffs’ property during the City’s property sweep of the Stranahan park camp, and did not provide residents of the camp advance notice of the sweep, nor any means to retrieve their property to avoid the destruction of their belongings.

Southern Legal Counsel represented Patrick McArdle, Courtney Ramsey, and Anthony Cummings, three individuals experiencing homelessness who had been repeatedly arrested under the city’s open lodging ordinance that made it a crime for homeless persons to sleep outside. The City also issued trespass warnings, banning them from returning to public parks permanently without providing an opportunity for a hearing.

Filed on behalf of David Booher, a homeless individual, this suit challenged a county ordinance that was being used by local law enforcement to prohibit homeless individuals from requesting charitable donations for personal use without first obtaining a permit. The permit cost $100, with no fee waiver, and required an individual to wear a “beggar’s badge.” Booher requested and was denied a permit because he had previously been arrested for holding a sign on the side of the roadway asking for help. The suit challenged the ordinance under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and sought injunctive and declaratory relief and damages.

Filed on behalf of Judith Chase, Joe Nelson, and Ollen Rogers, three residents of the City of Gainesville who were experiencing homelessness, this suit challenged under the First and Fourteenth Amendments two state statutes and a local ordinance which were being used to prohibit the plaintiffs and other homeless individuals from holding signs asking for help on public sidewalks and streets. The court granted a preliminary injunction against the defendants and made a preliminary finding that the challenged statutes are facially unconstitutional. A settlement was reached in which the court entered a permanent injunction prohibiting enforcement of the statutes and ordinance. The Sheriff and the City also paid damages to the three plaintiffs.

Cities and counties are increasingly restricting sharing food with persons experiencing homelessness in public spaces as a response to the visibility of homelessness, particularly if large groups are gathering in public parks for purposes of sharing a meal together.

Founders of Spreading the Word Without Saying A Word Ministry were arrested by the Daytona Beach Police Department for trespassing and using Manatee Park without a permit while attempting to minister to people experiencing homelessness through sharing food as an expression of their religious faith.

Peter Vigue, an individual experiencing homelessness and a resident of St. Johns County, filed suit against the Florida Highway Patrol and the St. Johns County Sheriff after he was arrested repeatedly for holding a sign asking for help on the side of a road. He argued that the state statutes were unconstitutional under the First Amendment, Due Process and Equal Protection. We reached a settlement with FHP which agreed to: not enforce either statute in their current versions; issue an official interpretation of the statutes that will make them not violate the First Amendment; train all of its officers; communicate with all other law enforcement in Florida about the new enforcement policy; and recommend a legislative fix. In 2021, the Florida Legislature repealed the unconstitutional portions of the statutes.