Oregon Homeless Paraplegic Takes Curry County Officials to Court for Eviction Order

A 66-year-old wheelchair-bound homeless paraplegic is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from Curry County after his eviction from a strip of land in a plan devised by the sheriff and county commissioners.

According to John Malaer’s attorney, Alicia LeDuc Montgomery, a $1 lease was given to the owner of a liquor store opposite her client’s camping site by county commissioners in an eviction scheme suggested by Curry County Sheriff, John Ward.

Curry County Sheriff Described Homeless Campers as ‘Fleas’

LeDuc Montgomery told the federal court on Tuesday that the purpose of the $1 lease was to evict homeless campers from the site. She said the sheriff referred to the homeless people as ‘fleas’ when he discussed the possible solution at a meeting of the Curry County Board of Commissioners.

The attorney said the county violated Malaer’s due process rights, a stance denied by the county’s lawyer, Elizabeth A. Jones. Jones urged the judge to dismiss Malaer’s suit, arguing that the $1 lease lawfully changed the legal status of the strip of land from camping on public land to trespassing on private property.

Jones described the trespass citation in July 2022 against Malaer as ‘bad timing and bad luck.’

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke of Medford wanted to know what the thinking was behind the county’s decision to lease public land for $1 to a liquor store owner.

Jones explained that a 72-hour eviction notice applies to public and not private land. The lease given to a business owner enabled the sheriff’s department to serve a criminal trespass citation.

Clarke said issuing his findings on the county’s motion to dismiss the suit, he would consider both attorneys’ arguments, including filed records and body camera footage of contact between deputies and Malaer.