Pro Bono Testimony and Report of Vice President Kristof Zetenyi Supports Win for Unhoused Angelenos

March 30, 2026

Analysis Group provided pro bono services to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) on behalf of civil rights groups and unhoused individuals in the greater Los Angeles area, the plaintiffs in litigation filed against the city of Los Angeles.

The matter, Janet Garcia, et al. v. The City of Los Angeles, centered on Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 56.11 (LAMC 56.11), which was codified to “balance the needs of all the City’s residents.” This provision was cited by the city to enact cleanups of unhoused residents’ encampments, which in some cases destroyed the property of unhoused residents. The plaintiffs alleged that the destruction of tents and other belongings necessary for survival under LAMC 56.11 violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights because such destruction amounted to unreasonable seizures of personal property and deprived people of required due process. LAFLA argued that the city was legally required to store and return any seized property.

An Analysis Group team led by Vice President Owen Hearey and Advanced Analytics Specialist Varsha Sabhnani supported Vice President Kristof Zetenyi, who submitted an expert report and testified at deposition. Dr. Zetenyi analyzed data provided by the city to evaluate the extent to which unhoused residents’ property was stored or disposed of during cleanups and how often such property, when stored, was returned to its owners. In his report, Dr. Zetenyi found that in the vast majority of cleanups the city did not return any of the unhoused residents’ property or send such property to storage.

Judge Dale S. Fischer of the US District Court for the Central District of California ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, granting terminating sanctions against the city.