In April 2026, Pacific Legal Foundation joined a federal lawsuit over a home once owned by Marilyn Monroe. The lawsuit aims to prevent the government from forcing individual property owners to shoulder the financial burden of public historic monuments.
The case began in 2023, when a California couple bought an unoccupied, deteriorating property on a dead-end residential street, intending to demolish and redevelop it after purchase. They applied for the appropriate permits, which the City of Los Angeles granted without objection after a standard 30-day hold. One day later, a local government official filed paperwork to designate the property a historic monument. The City then revoked the permits and approved the historic designation, rendering the property untouchable to its new owners, Brinah Milstein and Roy Bank.
To justify abruptly declaring the property a public monument, Los Angeles cited a former resident. Marilyn Monroe had owned the home for 157 days before her death in 1962. But few traces of the star remain today because the City ignored the property for over 60 years—without once raising a preservation concern—while 14 successive owners freely renovated both the home and grounds, eradicating any trace of Monroe’s time there.
The new historical designation prohibited the homeowners from using their own property—even banning repairs to damaged features without the approval of the City’s historical commission. It also left the homeowners facing a litany of threats to their safety. Although the City had declared the entire property a public monument, there was no way for the public to access the derelict house within its gates. Undeterred, fans flew drones overhead, trespassers scaled the walls, and burglars broke in hunting for traces of the property’s celebrated former tenant.
Milstein and Bank tried to work with the City to restore their property rights, offering to personally pay to relocate the home to create an accessible public museum. The City refused, leaving no remedy but the courts.
In January 2026, the homeowners filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the City had violated their Fifth Amendment rights by failing to provide them just compensation for turning their property into a public monument, eradicating all viable economic uses for the property, and causing the public to trespass to view the new “monument.”
In April 2026, Pacific Legal Foundation stepped in to represent the homeowners in their federal suit at no cost, to expand protections for all Americans’ property rights by challenging the City’s high-profile abuse of power.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees all Americans the right to just compensation when the government takes their property. If the government wants a museum, it must pay for one—not force private homeowners to foot the bill for a public monument. The City of Los Angeles is no exception.
What’s At Stake?
- The Constitution guarantees all Americans the right to just compensation when the government takes their property. If the government wants a museum, it must pay for one—not force private homeowners to foot the bill for a public monument.
