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Federal judge moves women’s shelter lawsuit back to local court

By Lucas González

Posted February 20, 2024

Image of the home on East Kerr Creek Road that Sojourn House planned to house up to eight women in. (courtesy of Zillow)

A lawsuit filed by Sojourn House — a nonprofit serving trafficked and exploited women — against the Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals is back to the local circuit court after previously moving to the federal court system.

James R. Sweeney, a U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Indiana, has ordered the case be returned to Monroe County Circuit Court and the federal case, which was opened in August 2023, be closed.

Monroe Circuit Court Judge Kara Krothe will now preside over the case.

Sojourn House first filed its lawsuit last July after the board twice rejected its request for a zoning variance, or an exemption from current zoning requirements, for a house on East Kerr Creek Road the nonprofit bought and planned to house up to eight women in.

Sojourn House alleges the board’s decision violates the Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, both of which prohibit discrimination based on physical or mental disabilities, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

The nonprofit also argued the county enacted ordinances that are in direct conflict with state and federal law and were used as a basis for discrimination.

In his order, Sweeney wrote the county wanted the case removed from the circuit court because it includes federal claims. The county later changed its mind and wanted state claims in the suit remanded, or sent back to the lower court, according to the order.

“The court thinks the better course is to remand the entire case,” Sweeney wrote.

He continued, “The Court is faced here with a local land use issue. Local land use is a quintessential area of state concern. (…) Furthermore, the heart of Sojourn's claim — that the County Board of Zoning Appeal(s) wrongly declined to hear its application — turns on a tricky question of state procedural law.”

He concluded by writing the state court should have the first opportunity to decide whether state law constrains the board’s procedural conduct and discretionary decisions.

The county first denied the variance request in March. Sojourn House appealed the board’s decision the following June, but the board opted not to hear its amended request and instead removed it from the meeting agenda.

The board said it does not hear repeat cases within a year after initial consideration. An applicant can file an amended petition during that period. The board said it did not believe Sojourn House’s amended request was substantially different from the one submitted in March.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Monroe Circuit Court 6.