Woman sues over law against cohabitation

[jcow79]

WILMINGTON, North Carolina (AP) -- A former sheriff's dispatcher who quit her job after her boss found out she lived with her boyfriend is challenging North Carolina's law against cohabitation.

Debora Hobbs said she was told to get married, move out, or find another job after her boss found out about her living situation. The legal arm of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina filed the lawsuit Monday on her behalf.

The lawsuit seeks to abolish the nearly 200-year-old -- and rarely enforced -- law that prohibits unmarried, unrelated adults of the opposite sex from living together. North Carolina is one of seven states with such a law.

Convicted offenders face a fine and up to 60 days in jail.

"The government has no business meddling in the private relationships of consenting adults," said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU-NC Legal Foundation.

Hobbs had been living with her boyfriend for about three years when she was hired as a Pender County 911 dispatcher in February 2004. The couple decided they didn't want to marry; Hobbs quit last May rather than be fired.

Sheriff Carson Smith said last year that Hobbs' employment was a moral issue as well as a legal question. He said he tries to avoid hiring people who openly live together, but that he doesn't send out deputies to enforce the law.

Hobbs declined to comment Monday. Rudinger said she is employed and still lives with her boyfriend.

Neither the sheriff nor Pender County Attorney Trey Thurman would comment.

link

We've had some heated debates about the right of employers to fire people. Anyone else wanna give some legal perspective on this one?
My guess is that the law violates sexual discrimination protections which would also mean that the firing violates it as well. [/url]

[jcow79]

Errr....she wasn't fired...but threatened.

[Zed Snardbody]

"Whatever a man, a woman, another woman , and a midget do to a donkey do in the privacy of their own home is none of my business."

[Montcalm]

There are books of laws that need to be updated.

[Skelron]

Errr....she wasn't fired...but threatened.

Yes by the Boss, She wasn't fired because she quit, had she not quit and instead continued to live with her Boyfriend she would have been fired. The Sherif does not come across as a man who makes empty threats. Note he called the situation a Moral issue, and that he does not hire people who he knows in advance are living in this manner. In short we can take it as pretty much certain that had she not quit she would have been fired.

[Z-Ha-Dum]

That law provides a convenient excuse for an employer to get rid of someone from his office.

[salm]

There are books of laws that need to be updated.

Not only books. Also certain sheriffs have to be updated. It´s ridicolous that this fucktard enforces laws like this.

[Solauren]

In the Sheriffs defense, it's possible he was told his job would be on the line as well.

However, i agree, this law is beyond stupid in this day and age.

I hope she wins her lawsuit and the law gets changed

[Darth Wong]

The sheriff may have had no choice; when you are a law enforcement officer, you cannot have someone on your staff who is flouting the law. However, the law should definitely be changed; I find it incredible that 7 states have such retarded laws. Which states are they?

[Flakin]

Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.

I'm breakin the law as we speak....

[Bertie Wooster]

There's a lot of laws and regulations like this that are on the books.

There's still a law at one of the Rutgers U. campuses in NJ which prohibits a certain number of women cohabiting in the same residence. It's called the brothel law.

[Stormbringer]

The sheriff may have had no choice; when you are a law enforcement officer, you cannot have someone on your staff who is flouting the law. However, the law should definitely be changed; I find it incredible that 7 states have such retarded laws. Which states are they?

In the cases of most states, they were on the books centuries ago and simple lack of enforcement meant they dropped off the radar but were not removed from the books. In Michigan if I bring dead rats to the country clerk I am legally entitled to a ¢5 bounty per rat.

I strongly suspect that the sheriff is using an arcane and unenforced law for his own reasons. I doubt this law is regularly enforced in that state, I sure know it's not in Michigan.

[Chmee]

What's the penalty under this law .... a good ol' stoning, or do we weigh her down with rocks and see if she floats?

[RedImperator]

There's a lot of laws and regulations like this that are on the books.

There's still a law at one of the Rutgers U. campuses in NJ which prohibits a certain number of women cohabiting in the same residence. It's called the brothel law.

Those laws are enforced by municipalities specifically to limit student housing. The towns around Villanova have big big 19th century houses--sometimes five, six, seven bedrooms--in which no more than three unrelated people of the same gender could live. There's simply no way three collee students could afford to rent a house that size, so either the houses sit empty, or more often the landlords wink and nod at "friends" who "sleep over" every single night.

This arrangement has its disadvantages, as you might imagine. The tenants not on the lease can be evicted by their roomates at any time, and there's always the chance a nosy neighbor will summon the police, who can order everyone not on the lease out of the house, and possibly force the landlord to evict the tenants legally there. They've even been known to conduct random house checks on certain blocks.

It's hard to overstate my contempt for the residents of the Main Line. The college was there in 1846, long before the towns were. You assholes all knew you were moving in to a college town, and you sure as fuck don't mind college town money, so you can Goddamn well deal with life in a college town and not use hundred year old laws to exacerbate an already bad housing situation.

[Chmee]

There's a lot of laws and regulations like this that are on the books.

There's still a law at one of the Rutgers U. campuses in NJ which prohibits a certain number of women cohabiting in the same residence. It's called the brothel law.

Those laws are enforced by municipalities specifically to limit student housing. The towns around Villanova have big big 19th century houses--sometimes five, six, seven bedrooms--in which no more than three unrelated people of the same gender could live. There's simply no way three collee students could afford to rent a house that size, so either the houses sit empty, or more often the landlords wink and nod at "friends" who "sleep over" every single night.

This arrangement has its disadvantages, as you might imagine. The tenants not on the lease can be evicted by their roomates at any time, and there's always the chance a nosy neighbor will summon the police, who can order everyone not on the lease out of the house, and possibly force the landlord to evict the tenants legally there. They've even been known to conduct random house checks on certain blocks.

It's hard to overstate my contempt for the residents of the Main Line. The college was there in 1846, long before the towns were. You assholes all knew you were moving in to a college town, and you sure as fuck don't mind college town money, so you can Goddamn well deal with life in a college town and not use hundred year old laws to exacerbate an already bad housing situation.

lol ... it's the Main Line, many of those families were probably already landlords when 'Nova was founded .....

Students knew they were moving into a township with those zoning laws just as fully as they knew they were moving into a college town ...

Went to Haverford, just up the road ... never considered renting a big ol' house, either lived on campus or off-campus apartment. Mostly I liked the people on the Main Line just fine.

[RedImperator]

There's a lot of laws and regulations like this that are on the books.

There's still a law at one of the Rutgers U. campuses in NJ which prohibits a certain number of women cohabiting in the same residence. It's called the brothel law.

Those laws are enforced by municipalities specifically to limit student housing. The towns around Villanova have big big 19th century houses--sometimes five, six, seven bedrooms--in which no more than three unrelated people of the same gender could live. There's simply no way three collee students could afford to rent a house that size, so either the houses sit empty, or more often the landlords wink and nod at "friends" who "sleep over" every single night.

This arrangement has its disadvantages, as you might imagine. The tenants not on the lease can be evicted by their roomates at any time, and there's always the chance a nosy neighbor will summon the police, who can order everyone not on the lease out of the house, and possibly force the landlord to evict the tenants legally there. They've even been known to conduct random house checks on certain blocks.

It's hard to overstate my contempt for the residents of the Main Line. The college was there in 1846, long before the towns were. You assholes all knew you were moving in to a college town, and you sure as fuck don't mind college town money, so you can Goddamn well deal with life in a college town and not use hundred year old laws to exacerbate an already bad housing situation.

lol ... it's the Main Line, many of those families were probably already landlords when 'Nova was founded .....

Students knew they were moving into a township with those zoning laws just as fully as they knew they were moving into a college town ...

Went to Haverford, just up the road ... never considered renting a big ol' house, either lived on campus or off-campus apartment. Mostly I liked the people on the Main Line just fine.

For some reason, there's an intense level of antagonism between Villanovans and the Main Line that doesn't seem to exist with Rosemont, Harcum, Cabrini, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, et al. It extended to the point of local residents taking Villanova to court to block construction on its own property. My freshman year they wanted to build a health center on South Campus to serve the big dorms down there, and the yahoos who live back there blocked it because of the "increased foot traffic" and part of a grassy wooded area on Villanova's property would have been torn up. Like the dorms for 2000 residents, two train stations, and the best dining hall on campus don't already generate foot traffic. Assholes. As for the "park", as they called it, 80% of it would have been intact and those pricks never use it anyway.

I advocated building a 15 foot cast iron spike-topped spite fence around the whole plot, and automatic towing of any cars parked on Villanova property, after that little incident. The health center ended up getting jammed onto main campus.

[Bertie Wooster]

Went to Haverford, just up the road ... never considered renting a big ol' house, either lived on campus or off-campus apartment. Mostly I liked the people on the Main Line just fine.

The only guy I know on the Main Line is that Bryn Mawr Jesus fellow (thanks for the name HemlockGrey), and that guy totally sucked. Everytime I visit Haverford and get off the train, I bump into that guy.

As for the zoning laws at Haverford, I never heard of any students getting hassled about the number of people living in off-campus houses so maybe even though it's such a close proximity to Villanova, the laws are different.

[Chmee]

Those laws are enforced by municipalities specifically to limit student housing. The towns around Villanova have big big 19th century houses--sometimes five, six, seven bedrooms--in which no more than three unrelated people of the same gender could live. There's simply no way three collee students could afford to rent a house that size, so either the houses sit empty, or more often the landlords wink and nod at "friends" who "sleep over" every single night.

This arrangement has its disadvantages, as you might imagine. The tenants not on the lease can be evicted by their roomates at any time, and there's always the chance a nosy neighbor will summon the police, who can order everyone not on the lease out of the house, and possibly force the landlord to evict the tenants legally there. They've even been known to conduct random house checks on certain blocks.

It's hard to overstate my contempt for the residents of the Main Line. The college was there in 1846, long before the towns were. You assholes all knew you were moving in to a college town, and you sure as fuck don't mind college town money, so you can Goddamn well deal with life in a college town and not use hundred year old laws to exacerbate an already bad housing situation.

lol ... it's the Main Line, many of those families were probably already landlords when 'Nova was founded .....

Students knew they were moving into a township with those zoning laws just as fully as they knew they were moving into a college town ...

Went to Haverford, just up the road ... never considered renting a big ol' house, either lived on campus or off-campus apartment. Mostly I liked the people on the Main Line just fine.

For some reason, there's an intense level of antagonism between Villanovans and the Main Line that doesn't seem to exist with Rosemont, Harcum, Cabrini, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, et al.

Catholic guilt?

Sorry to hear that, is it at least partially due to the size difference between 'Nova and those other schools? Ahhh, Harcum, such good memories ....

[jcow79]

Anyone see the irony that the law forbids two people of OPPOSITE sex from cohabiting? Does that mean had they been a gay couple there would have been no issue?

[RedImperator]

lol ... it's the Main Line, many of those families were probably already landlords when 'Nova was founded .....

Students knew they were moving into a township with those zoning laws just as fully as they knew they were moving into a college town ...

Went to Haverford, just up the road ... never considered renting a big ol' house, either lived on campus or off-campus apartment. Mostly I liked the people on the Main Line just fine.

For some reason, there's an intense level of antagonism between Villanovans and the Main Line that doesn't seem to exist with Rosemont, Harcum, Cabrini, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, et al.

Catholic guilt?

Sorry to hear that, is it at least partially due to the size difference between 'Nova and those other schools? Ahhh, Harcum, such good memories ....

I think it's a combination of the fact that 'Nova is much larger than the other colleges, it's right on Lancaster Avenue, and the students have ridiculously easy access to the rest of the Main Line. There are THREE train stations on campus, on two different lines, and any 'Nova student can be in any town between Philadelphia and Paoli in ten minutes.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

Anyone see the irony that the law forbids two people of OPPOSITE sex from cohabiting? Does that mean had they been a gay couple there would have been no issue?

Ah, but 5 states still have laws against sodomy.

[DPDarkPrimus]

The sheriff may have had no choice; when you are a law enforcement officer, you cannot have someone on your staff who is flouting the law.

It's on the books here in Iowa that daylight must be able to be seen between dancing partners. Shall we have random inspections when the officers are clubbing it?

The point is, outdated and silly laws shouldn't matter. The sheriff is trying to get rid of her on a technicality.

[General Zod]

The sheriff may have had no choice; when you are a law enforcement officer, you cannot have someone on your staff who is flouting the law.

It's on the books here in Iowa that daylight must be able to be seen between dancing partners. Shall we have random inspections when the officers are clubbing it?

The point is, outdated and silly laws shouldn't matter. The sheriff is trying to get rid of her on a technicality.

there's dozens of dumb laws on the books pretty much anywhere in the world. here's a few examples of laws for north carolina.

[Marksist]

Ah, but 5 states still have laws against sodomy. Wink

I thought the Supreme Court smacked down all sodomy laws in the US with Lawrence v. Texas?

[LadyTevar]

Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia.

I'm breakin the law as we speak....

Say WHAT!?!?!?
Talk about a law that's not enforced!!