Eight more businesses have sued the city of Minneapolis over its handling of the neighborhood where George Floyd was killed by police, alleging their businesses were damaged when officers stopped responding to the area, and activists, gangs and crime took over.
The business owners say when the city blocked off a four-block area around 38th Street and Chicago Avenue to give people space to grieve in summer 2020, they allowed it to be overtaken by “civilian occupiers” to the point where it became a violent, lawless “no-go zone” that disrupted and, in some cases, ruined their businesses. They say the city’s actions amounted to condemnation of their property without compensation.
They’re represented by Michael Healey, the same attorney representing the former Cup Foods and four other businesses that operated in the Cup building that sued the city in October on similar grounds. That lawsuit seeks $30 million in damages.
Floyd was killed just outside Cup Foods in May 2020 after police were called when he tried to pay for a pack of cigarettes with a fake $20 bill.
The latest lawsuit seeks $49 million in damages and includes a claim that by not providing the area with police protection, the city discriminated against the business owners based on their race (most of them are Black), gender or sexual orientation.
“I firmly believe that they felt they could get away with not compensating our business community because of who we were and how small we were,” said one of the business owners, Mike Stebnitz.
The city has filed a motion to dismiss this lawsuit.
A similar lawsuit was filed against the city of Seattle over an autonomous zone that sprang up after Floyd’s killing. That city agreed to pay $3.65 million to settle the suit in 2023.