Black family sues over 1924 seizure of Piedmont home
The 2,741 square foot single family residence built in 1915 at 67 Wildwood Avenue in Piedmont, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Sidney and Irene Dearing, the first Black family to buy property in the city, bought this property in 1924 and were drive
PIEDMONT, Calif. - Nearly a century after Piedmont's first Black resident was driven from his home through threats, violence and what attorneys now call a fraudulent use of eminent domain, descendants of the family have filed a lawsuit against the city seeking a remedy for the loss of their property and generational wealth.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of the descendants of Sidney and Irene Dearing by the Legal Defense Fund, the nation's first civil rights law firm. The firm was founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sidney Dearing was a descendant of Native Seminoles, a tribe that was dispersed and migrated across the Gulf of Mexico after the frontier wars. Born in Texas, he later moved to California, where he opened a successful jazz club, the Creole Cafe, on Oakland’s Seventh Street. He married Irene, and the couple had two children.
In 1924, Dearing purchased a home for $10,000 at 67 Wildwood Ave. in Piedmont, a neighborhood known for its architecture, gardens and sweeping views of the Bay.
At about 8 p.m. on May 6, 1924, an angry crowd of about 500 white residents gathered outside the family’s home, demanding the Dearings give up the property and leave the city. Contemporary reports made no mention of the presence of then–Police Chief Burton Becker, who was an open member of the Ku Klux Klan.
According to the lawsuit, the family endured a sustained campaign of intimidation, including threats of lynching, cross burnings, brick-throwing and attempted bombings. Sidney Dearing sent his family away for their safety and hired security.
Attorneys allege the city falsely claimed it needed the property for public use. On June 19, 1924, the city filed an action in Alameda County Superior Court seeking to condemn the property for the stated purpose of building a road between Wildwood Avenue and Fairview Avenue, according to the suit.
"The city never intended to build the road," said Leah Aden, senior counsel at the Legal Defense Fund. "We know based upon the factual record that they put the home up for sale and sold it to a white person a mere few months after the condemnation action was settled, which to us is an indication that they were not intending to build or complete a road, but that the city lied to the Dearings because they did not want a Black family to live in the city of Piedmont."
The Dearing family dispersed after living in the home for less than a year. Sidney Dearing later died in 1953 alone and in poverty and is buried in an unmarked grave in Martinez.
The lawsuit seeks damages related to the long-term value of the lost property, an official apology and other remedies tied to the loss of generational wealth, educational access and other benefits associated with homeownership in Piedmont.
Attorneys argue statutes of limitation should be relaxed due to extraordinary circumstances, including the alleged concealment of records and the recent discovery of key court documents related to the condemnation.
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, Black residents make up about 0.8% of Piedmont’s population, compared with about 20% in neighboring Oakland.
The filing comes amid growing national attention to historic racial takings, including the return of Bruce’s Beach in Los Angeles County to descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce. Similar efforts have occurred in Palm Springs and Santa Monica.
"These forcible expulsions must be acknowledged and repaired, and Piedmont has the authority and resources to do so," Aden said.
The lawsuit builds on research by Piedmont native and librarian Meghan Bennett, who uncovered the Dearing family’s history during archival research and published her findings on sidneydearing.com in 2020.
Bennett said in a 2023 interview that former Piedmont Police Chief Jeremy Bowers used her research to train staff on the city’s history. The City Council later adopted a resolution rejecting racism in all forms.
"We must listen to those who have endured centuries of discrimination and exclusion as they share the truth of their lived experiences; and we must seek solutions to remedy racial harm," the 2020 resolution said.
The city is working to commission a public memorial honoring Sidney and Irene Dearing near the former home site.
"We are not disputing that the memorial is a good recognition of what happened in the past, but it certainly is not a remedy for injustice," said Arnold Brown of Seyfarth Shaw, a law firm partnering with the Legal Defense Fund on the case.
Under state law, the city of Piedmont has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit or request additional time.