Homeless Woman Sues Portland Construction Company, Claiming Employee Threatened Her Life if She Didn’t Move Her Van

“Ms. Burch felt bullied, fearful, discouraged, and other bad feelings that no human should be made to experience, no matter their status in society.”

Portland’s Central Eastside—with its underpasses, few residents, and little security—is where homeless people go when they have nowhere else to turn. (Laurel Kadas)
By Tess Riski

A Portland woman filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Feb. 11 alleging that an employee at the Lorentz Bruun construction company demanded she move the van in which she was living, or else her "life's gonna get real bad."

Lynn Burch alleges in the complaint that on the afternoon of Feb. 5, a young man wearing a hat and jacket that both said "Lorentz Bruun," approached her parked van in Southeast Portland and began shooting video of her and harassing her for about 15 minutes. He also accused her falsely of being a drug user because of her appearance, the complaint alleges.

"I'm warning you, if you don't go your life is gonna be fucked," the employee, who is unnamed, reportedly told Burch, according to the lawsuit. "My boss is gonna fuck you up."

The employee allegedly told Burch that, "as part of his job duties," he was sent to order her to move her vehicle ahead of an upcoming construction project. Burch says in the lawsuit that she was parked legally on a public street.

"As a direct result of defendant's ongoing and intentional harassment and obscene threats," the lawsuit says, "Ms. Burch felt bullied, fearful, discouraged, and other bad feelings that no human should be made to experience, no matter their status in society."

The complaint alleges that the employee was acting in an official capacity for his employer, and is therefore liable for the employee's behavior.

Lorentz Bruun did not immediately respond to WW's request for comment.

Burch, who is represented by Portland attorney Michael Fuller, is suing Lorentz Bruun for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She is seeking an injunction prohibiting Lorentz Bruun "from continuing the harassment and obscene threats giving rise to this complaint," as well as $1 in damages.

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