Judge dismisses lawsuit over historical designation of Marilyn Monroe home

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit by the owners of a former Marilyn Monroe residence who claimed the City of Los Angeles destroyed the property’s value by belatedly designating it a cultural-historical monument.

Granting the city’s request to dismiss the complaint, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson said the owners’ hadn’t shown the designation of the home as a monument amounted to a physical taking under the taking clause of the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the government from taking private property for public use without paying just compensation.

The George W. Bush appointee said they failed to claim the city has authorized or encouraged members of the public to trespass or that the city has prevented them to enforce their rights against any trespassers.

“While plaintiffs claim that their property is being invaded by members of the public, the complaint fails to plausibly allege any government-authorized invasion of the property and thus fails to state a physical taking claim,” Anderson wrote.

Anderson also said the complaint didn’t meet the requirements the U.S. Supreme Court has set for making a claim for a regulatory taking, which occurs when the government restricts an owner’s use of their property without proper compensation, based on their argument that they can’t tear down the house and redevelop the site as they had intended.

“The complaint’s allegations concerning the value of the property, including that the market value of the property is now ‘zero, or a negative amount’ and that the property is ‘worthless’ as a result of the [historical-cultural monument] designation, are conclusory and implausible,” the judge wrote.

In addition, Anderson said, the owners failed to plausibly argue that their “investment-backed expectations” for the property were objectively reasonable.

“On the contrary, plaintiffs’ own allegations suggest that, at the time they purchased the property, they were aware of its historical connection to Ms. Monroe, the city’s […] designation process and applicable regulations were established, and, while prior owners had made substantial alterations to the property, no prior owner had demolished the buildings on the property,” he said.

The judge allowed the owners to file an amended complaint to address the flaws he discussed.

Attorneys for the owners didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank sued the city in January, claiming they had bought the property for more than $8 million with the intention to demolish the dilapidated structures.

However, the local city councilmember, preservationists and tour operators joined forces in 2023 to make the city designate the property a historic-cultural monument, which makes it impossible for the owners to tear it down without going through a lengthy and costly legal process, they argue.

The house, a 2,300-square-foot Spanish bungalow, is located at the end of a small cul-de-sac in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on LA’s westside. The owners, who live in an adjacent property, argue Monroe owned the place for just six months and only stayed there temporarily while shooting movies in Southern California since her main residence was in New York.

The actress died in the house in 1962.

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