Miami to Settle Lawsuit Over Homeless Man’s Panhandling Arrests

A settlement of $45,000 has been proposed by the Miami City Attorney’s Office to a homeless man who lodged charges against the city on grounds of unconstitutional panhandling law, following his arrest. Willie White, a lifelong resident of Miami, was detained twice in the previous year due to the city’s 2010 law that enforced a ban on “soliciting, begging, or panhandling” in the downtown business area. Teaming up with the Florida Justice Institute, a nonprofit civil rights organization, White sued the city. The lawsuit, filed in December last year, claimed that the Miami police violated the constitution during these arrests, as the legislation had already been considered unconstitutional. The upcoming commission meeting on February 22 will look into settling the case, with part of the tentative payout to be given to White. The city attorney’s Office, led by Victoria Mendez, is advocating for the commission’s approval for the settlement. How the $45,000 will be distributed between White and his representation team is still undetermined. As of now, there have been no comments from either his legal representation or the city on this matter. Last year, White was taken into custody on two occasions — once on May 3 and again on June 7 — after requesting money from people in downtown Miami. He later sued the city in December 2023, arguing that not only was the ban on panhandling unconstitutional, but also that it had been consistently enforced for years, completely ignoring the Miami-Dade appellate court’s opinion that it infringed on people’s First Amendment rights. Ray Taseff, White’s main lawyer, stated during the filing of the case that “requesting donations is speech protected by the First Amendment,” Countering the city’s argument that it isn’t picky with regard to who seeks funds. In 2017, a three-judge panel from Miami-Dade County Court’s appellate division upheld this view, arguing that the ban infringed on the First Amendment rights of Andrew Toombs, a homeless man represented by a public defender who had been apprehended multiple times since 2007 for panhandling. Despite the panel’s ruling, the Miami police continued to imprison people for panhandling, making at least 12 arrests in 2023 alone. The civil lawsuit extends far beyond the unconstitutional panhandling arrests. A lawsuit filed by four homeless persons claimed that the city had destroyed their belongings during an aggressive campaign to eliminate homeless camps. Consequently, the Miami city administration agreed to a $300,000 settlement last week. The plaintiffs included Latoyla Cooper-Levy, who claimed to have lost her passport, phone, tent, and an urn holding her mother’s ashes during the city’s clean-up of the homeless encampment where she resided in 2021.