Judge denies motion to dismiss Minneapolis suit against encampment property owner
Property owner Hamoudi Sabri talks with Enrique Velázquez, Director of Regulatory Services for the city of Minneapolis, near an encampment at 28th Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: We have an update for you on a Minneapolis lawsuit against a landlord who allowed dozens of people to camp on a parking lot he owns. This morning, a judge denied Hamoudi Sabri's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The city sued Sabri in September to force him to close the encampment. A few days later, the city cleared the encampment after a shooting there killed one person and injured six others.
Sabri's lawyers argued the city could not move forward with the lawsuit without including the people who had been living in the encampment in the case. MPR Newsday reporter Cari Spencer was at the courthouse during today's hearing and joins me now to explain more. Thanks for being with us, Cari.
CARI SPENCER: Yeah, thanks for having me.
NINA MOINI: So tell us more about what Sabri's lawyers were arguing. What would it mean for people living in the encampment to be part of the lawsuit?
CARI SPENCER: Yeah. So, for context, the judge has a temporary restraining order blocking Sabri from opening an encampment on any of his properties. But what the city is seeking is permanent relief, meaning he'd never be able to allow people to camp on any of his properties, ever.
His attorneys made the case that because the city wants that permanent ban, that it's not about this specific public health nuisance, but about barring people from camping on private property. They claimed that a ruling in the city's favor here would mean that people who are homeless can't exist anywhere. And because those unhoused people would be directly impacted by the outcome of the case, that they need to be brought in because their constitutional rights are at stake.
NINA MOINI: And how did the city's lawyers respond?
CARI SPENCER: Well, they argued that this case was a really straightforward one about public nuisance law. And they accused Sabri's side of turning it into something different. They also argued that to add those residents as a party on the suit would mean that the city would have to sue them, which they don't have an interest in doing.
NINA MOINI: And what did the judge say about why he denied the motion?
CARI SPENCER: So while Sabri's attorney was making the case that the lawsuit isn't about trash but about homeless people existing, the judge did push back and say that he didn't agree with that.
At the end when he gave his oral ruling, and he'll still need to follow up in the written record, he basically said that the case in front of them is more narrow than his attorneys were making it. He said, similarly to what the city's attorneys were saying, that it's about a public health nuisance and not homeless policy.
NINA MOINI: So people who were living in the encampment won't be a party in the lawsuit. But you've been talking with a couple of them. And what have their lives been like since this encampment closed?
CARI SPENCER: Yeah, I've spoken with several people who'd been living in the encampment and are really figuring out how to survive night by night. They did express how difficult it is to exist outside, and said it's been particularly harder as police have ramped up this approach of dismantling tents as soon as people set them up.
50-year-old Teresa Graves says she didn't like that the encampment had been next to a school, but it was nice to have a place to return to where she knew she could find her friends and not be moved around. Here's what she had to say about how things have been.
TERESA GRAVES: I mean, all you can do is stand and walk, walk around, walk around.
NINA MOINI: So what happens next in the court case?
CARI SPENCER: Well, because the motion to dismiss was denied, now the case continues. Sabri's attorneys say they'll file defenses. But one route that could happen, which I'm told they're considering, is the root of a counterclaim. And that's an avenue where, basically, even though Sabri is the one being sued, he'd be able to file claims against the city even within this case. And he's very clearly not backing down. Here's what he had to say after the hearing.
HAMOUDI SABRI: If you see stuff and blink an eye on it, you're an evil where I'm raised from. You just can't do that. When you see something somebody's doing wrong, you got to stand for them. Someone needs help, you got to help them if they need it. And I see that homeless really need it
NINA MOINI: All right, Cari. Thanks so much for bringing us the latest.
CARI SPENCER: Yeah, thanks for having me.
NINA MOINI: That's Cari Spencer, reporter for MPR News.
Sabri's lawyers argued the city could not move forward with the lawsuit without including the people who had been living in the encampment in the case. MPR Newsday reporter Cari Spencer was at the courthouse during today's hearing and joins me now to explain more. Thanks for being with us, Cari.
CARI SPENCER: Yeah, thanks for having me.
NINA MOINI: So tell us more about what Sabri's lawyers were arguing. What would it mean for people living in the encampment to be part of the lawsuit?
CARI SPENCER: Yeah. So, for context, the judge has a temporary restraining order blocking Sabri from opening an encampment on any of his properties. But what the city is seeking is permanent relief, meaning he'd never be able to allow people to camp on any of his properties, ever.
His attorneys made the case that because the city wants that permanent ban, that it's not about this specific public health nuisance, but about barring people from camping on private property. They claimed that a ruling in the city's favor here would mean that people who are homeless can't exist anywhere. And because those unhoused people would be directly impacted by the outcome of the case, that they need to be brought in because their constitutional rights are at stake.
NINA MOINI: And how did the city's lawyers respond?
CARI SPENCER: Well, they argued that this case was a really straightforward one about public nuisance law. And they accused Sabri's side of turning it into something different. They also argued that to add those residents as a party on the suit would mean that the city would have to sue them, which they don't have an interest in doing.
NINA MOINI: And what did the judge say about why he denied the motion?
CARI SPENCER: So while Sabri's attorney was making the case that the lawsuit isn't about trash but about homeless people existing, the judge did push back and say that he didn't agree with that.
At the end when he gave his oral ruling, and he'll still need to follow up in the written record, he basically said that the case in front of them is more narrow than his attorneys were making it. He said, similarly to what the city's attorneys were saying, that it's about a public health nuisance and not homeless policy.
NINA MOINI: So people who were living in the encampment won't be a party in the lawsuit. But you've been talking with a couple of them. And what have their lives been like since this encampment closed?
CARI SPENCER: Yeah, I've spoken with several people who'd been living in the encampment and are really figuring out how to survive night by night. They did express how difficult it is to exist outside, and said it's been particularly harder as police have ramped up this approach of dismantling tents as soon as people set them up.
50-year-old Teresa Graves says she didn't like that the encampment had been next to a school, but it was nice to have a place to return to where she knew she could find her friends and not be moved around. Here's what she had to say about how things have been.
TERESA GRAVES: I mean, all you can do is stand and walk, walk around, walk around.
NINA MOINI: So what happens next in the court case?
CARI SPENCER: Well, because the motion to dismiss was denied, now the case continues. Sabri's attorneys say they'll file defenses. But one route that could happen, which I'm told they're considering, is the root of a counterclaim. And that's an avenue where, basically, even though Sabri is the one being sued, he'd be able to file claims against the city even within this case. And he's very clearly not backing down. Here's what he had to say after the hearing.
HAMOUDI SABRI: If you see stuff and blink an eye on it, you're an evil where I'm raised from. You just can't do that. When you see something somebody's doing wrong, you got to stand for them. Someone needs help, you got to help them if they need it. And I see that homeless really need it
NINA MOINI: All right, Cari. Thanks so much for bringing us the latest.
CARI SPENCER: Yeah, thanks for having me.
NINA MOINI: That's Cari Spencer, reporter for MPR News.
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