Complaints vs. Manassas, schools dismissed

The Eastern District Court in Alexandria recently dismissed in part several complaints against the City of Manassas and Manassas City Public Schools.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2007 by the Washington, D.C.-based Equal Rights Center on behalf of 10

Manassas residents, stemmed from the Dec. 5, 2005, ordinance that sought to redefine the term "family" in an effort to control residential overcrowding and restrict who could live in a house to-gether.

The council voted to repeal the ordinance in February 2006 after controversy arose.

The ordinance also established an "overcrowding hotline" which the complainants said discriminated against Hispanics.

On April 25, District Judge T.S. Ellis III dismissed several charges, which had held that the city had violated the Federal Housing Act, on the grounds that the charges were moot since the ordinance had been repealed, court re-cords show.

Also dismissed was a charge of violating the Fair Housing Act. Once again, Ellis said the repealed ordinance made the charge moot.

Ellis dismissed four charges against Manassas City Public Schools because the school system is protected by sover-eign immunity, meaning the state and local government can't be sued in certain cases.

"It dismisses a substantial basis upon which the plaintiffs alleged that Manassas is liable to them," said Bill Broaddus, an outside counsel and former Virginia Attorney General who defended the city and the schools which were accused of releasing children's confidential school records.

Details on the case will be stated more fully in a forthcoming opinion, court records stated.

Ellis also dismissed several actions against the city council and the mayor. Other motions to dismiss remain under advisement and will be addressed later, court records show.

Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.