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Today, the Portland City Council approved a $15,000 payment to resolve a lawsuit over the removal of a family of six from a North Portland Motel 6.
The lawsuit was brought by two siblings, Mathew Lovato and Stacie Carman, who, along with Carman’s four young children, were kicked out of their hotel room in 2021 after the manager refused to accept their latest rent payment and instead called the police.
When officers arrived, they threatened to arrest the family if they didn’t leave, according to a legal complaint filed last year by attorneys with the Oregon Law Center.
It was, according to the complaint, a “police-assisted illegal eviction.” Under Oregon law, staying at a hotel for more than 30 days entitles the guest to protection under landlord-tenant laws.
The lawsuit initially listed five defendants: the motel’s corporate owner, the manager who called 911, and the three Portland Police Bureau officers who responded to the call.
In February, however, attorneys for the plaintiffs added another defendant, the city of Portland, after learning through discovery that the city hadn’t trained its police officers “on the application of Oregon landlord/tenant law to hotels.”
Instead, it was long-standing custom for police not to check how long tenants had been guests of a motel before kicking them out, the complaint alleges. “This creates a substantial risk that Portland police officers will assist in an illegal eviction,” it reads.
Days after amending the complaint, all parties agreed to settle. It is unclear how much money in total was offered to the plaintiffs. An attorney for the owner, Delta Hospitality Group, declined to comment.
“The City Attorney’s Office believes this mutually agreed upon settlement is in the interest of all parties,” City Attorney Robert Taylor said in an email.
At today’s City Council meeting, Mayor Ted Wheeler quizzed deputy city ttorney Dan Simon on whether the city had updated its training materials.
“Not currently that I’m aware of,” Simon responded.