LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Courthouse News) – An Arkansas couple says they are being ordered to leave their community because their $1,500 trailer is too cheap to comply with a new city ordinance that criminalizes struggling residents “simply because they are poor.”
David Watlington and Lindsey Hollaway say their $13,000 combined annual income places them below the federal poverty line and they cannot afford a trailer with a value of at least $7,500, as the city of McCrory’s trailer-banishment ordinance requires.
The engaged couple are the lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed Thursday by nonprofit Equal Justice Under Law, accusing McCrory and Police Chief Paul Hatch of running a wealth-based banishment scheme using the city law that calls for fines of up to $500 for each day a violation exists.
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