The issue returns

The issue of UCLA's use of portions of the West LA Veterans Affairs property for althetics is back on the legal agenda. From the LA Times:

A federal judge has set the stage for a possible trial next year in a lawsuit challenging leases of land on West L.A.’s Veterans Affairs’ campus to UCLA and a private school and the slow progress of the VA’s promise to build housing for homeless veterans. In a tentative ruling he warned he may change, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied motions to dismiss key portions of the class-action lawsuit that seeks to declare the leases illegal and compel the VA to expeditiously provide housing for thousands of homeless veterans. Carter handed out the pre-written tentative ruling following a 3½-hour hearing [last] Monday in which, he said, arguments by lawyers representing the veterans and the VA had caused him to “rethink the entire jurisprudence.”

Without indicating which way he might have been swayed, Carter gave the parties until Sept. 29 to respond to the tentative ruling before he makes it final. In a quip characteristic of the mercurial judge, Carter warned reporters after the hearing to be wary of describing the ruling with a finality that could turn out wrong.

...Carter wrote that he was inclined to uphold the veterans’ contention the VA has a fiduciary duty to “evaluate management of leases or land use to ensure that they advance the purpose of providing housing and services that principally benefit veterans and their families.” He would allow the veterans to go forward with their cause of action alleging that leases to the Brentwood school and a company that operates a public parking lot breach that duty, which is laid out in the West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016.

...If adopted, the ruling could lead to a trial over whether to invalidate leases under which UCLA and the Brentwood Academy have built extensive athletic facilities on the VA land. Zachary Avallone, trial attorney for the U.S. Justice Department, argued during the hearing that the leases were serving veterans by providing exclusive access to facilities at specified times. Carter’s tentative ruling rejected that argument.

...Carter urged the parties to work out an agreement to avoid a trial, but said he would schedule one for early next year if they do not...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-20/veterans-claims-over-misuse-of-the-va-west-los-angeles-campus-may-go-to-trial.