BOWLING GREEN (WTOL) - Some landlords and tenants in Bowling Green can breathe a sigh of relief after a federal judge ruled against a city ordinance that restricted unrelated occupants.
On Friday, the ordinance was struck down by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge James R. Knepp, II.
The winning attorney said he thought his case was solid from the get-go and thinks this will set a precedent for other cities around the country.
“There is an overwhelming abundance of evidence that these sorts of laws that prohibit more than three unrelated people from living together arise out of discriminatory animus toward the kind of people that are targeted,” said Maurice Thompson, a constitutional attorney.
Thompson is also one of the plaintiffs in a case against the city. He is a landlord himself and said he was directly targeted based on the now-unconstitutional ordinance.
"I received a letter ordering me to throw my tenants out on to the street within 10 days without even an eviction proceeding, or otherwise go to jail,” Thompson said. “That sort of heavy-handedness shouldn't be permitted in any sort of free society."
In his decision, Knepp wrote the limit is “impermissibly arbitrary, oppressive, and untailored” and “the limit applies unequally.”
Thompson, who says he specializes in property rights litigation, agreed wholeheartedly.
"Landlords and tenants will be able to decide, instead of government deciding, who lives in any particular house and how many people live in any particular house,” he said.
A Bowling Green spokesman said the city is disappointed with the ruling since previous lawsuits were decided in their favor. However, he said the city will take a close look to see what changes they’ll need to make.
