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RACHEL B. HOOPER (State Bar No. 98569)
ROBERT S. PERLMUTTER (State Bar No. 183333)
SHUTE, MIHALY & WEINBERGER LLP
396 Hayes Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 552-7272
GARY A. PATTON (State Bar No. 048998)
LANDWATCH MONTEREY COUNTY
158 Central Avenue, Suite 3
Salinas, CA 93901-2662
(831) 422-9390
Attorneys for Defendant
LANDWATCH MONTEREY COUNTY
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA
FOR THE COUNTY OF MONTEREY
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CITY OF MARINA,
Plaintiff,
vs.
ARMSTRONG RANCH PROPERTY OWNERS; GIBSON
SPENO LLC- MARINA; RMC LONESTAR; LANDWATCH
MONTEREY COUNTY; and DOES 1 through 20,
inclusive,
Defendants.
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Case No. M 52386
DEFENDANT LANDWATCH MONTEREY COUNTY'S
OPENING MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND
AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO
STRIKE
Date: May 4, 2001
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Dept.: 17
Hon. Michael S. Fields
Action Filed: February 1, 2001
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I. PRELIMINARY
STATEMENT
On November 7, 2000, the voters of the City of
Marina voted to adopt the Marina Urban Growth
Boundary Initiative ("Measure E"). Under the
California Constitution, Measure E thus became the
"final legislative word" of the City, which the
Marina City Council ("Council") has no power to
alter or undo. Rossi v. Brown, 9 Cal.4th 688, 704
(1995). Nevertheless, two months after Measure E
became valid and binding, and in plain
contravention of its duty to implement and defend
the Measure, the City of Marina filed the instant
action attempting to shirk that duty. The City's
lawsuit, styled as a "declaratory relief" action,
seeks to do what not a single case supports: use
taxpayer funds--the funds of the very people who
voted to adopt Measure E--to raise questions as to
the validity of a duly enacted initiative that the
Council itself is charged with implementing. Named
as defendants are developers opposed to Measure E
and LandWatch Monterey County ("LandWatch"), one of
its many supporters.
Because it was allegedly informed that the
Measure "may" be invalid, the City apparently
believes it can foist its mandatory duty to defend
this ordinance onto LandWatch, on the grounds that
the organization supported the initiative. The
Council may have its own political agenda for
singling out LandWatch, as opposed to suing any of
the other organizations, or thousands of citizens,
who supported Measure E. What the City emphatically
does not have, however, is any legal basis
whatsoever for using taxpayer funds to sue
LandWatch--or any other person or entity--over the
validity of a duly adopted initiative measure.
Indeed, eight years ago, the Legislature took
steps to address precisely this sort of litigation.
Finding that "it is in the public interest to
encourage continued participation in matters of
public significance, and that this participation
should not be chilled through abuse of the judicial
process," the Legislature enacted Code of Civil
Procedure ("CCP") section 425.16, commonly known as
the "anti-SLAPP" statute. ("SLAPP" stands for
strategic lawsuit against public participation.)
This law authorizes the victim of a SLAPP to bring
a special motion to strike lawsuits such as the
present action. The Court must grant the motion if
the SLAPP arises out of any act in furtherance of
the rights of petition or free speech in connection
with a public issue, unless the plaintiff can prove
a substantial likelihood of prevailing on the SLAPP
claim. As detailed below, because the City sued
LandWatch solely because it exercised its members'
First Amendment rights, and because the City cannot
possibly prevail on its unprecedented and illegal
attack on a nonprofit entity to overturn the
voters' "final legislative word," this Court must
grant LandWatch's special motion to strike.
II. MEASURE E
QUALIFIES FOR THE BALLOT
Measure E creates an urban growth boundary ("UGB")
along the City's northern boundary, beyond which
the Council may not permit urban development for a
period of twenty years, except in certain
circumstances. Complaint, Ex. A. The measure's
central purpose is "to promote stability in
long-term planning for the City by establishing a
cornerstone policy within the General Plan that
designates appropriate geographic limits for urban
development . . ., and that allows sufficient
flexibility within those geographic limits to
respond to the City's changing needs over time."
Id.
The proponents of Measure E sought the input of
City officials before circulating the initiative
for signatures. On February 9, 2000, Kenneth Gray,
an official proponent of Measure E, provided the
City Planning Director and City Attorney with a
preliminary draft of the measure. See Declaration
of Robert S. Perlmutter ("Perlmutter Decl."), Ex.
1. Mr. Gray stated that his organization, Marina
2020 Vision, wanted to place the UGB on the
November ballot. Id. He further explained that
Marina 2020 first wanted to solicit any comments
that City staff or officials could timely provide.
Id. Two weeks later, having received no response,
Mr. Gray formally filed the proposed initiative,
along with the official Notice of Intent ("NOI") to
circulate and the required request for a ballot
title and summary. Perlmutter Decl. Ex. 2; see
Elections Code[1] § 9203. An
initiative may not be circulated for signatures
until the city provides the title and summary.
§ 9205.
On March 3rd, Robert Perlmutter, counsel for
Marina 2020, learned from the City Attorney that,
in drafting the official summary, he had become
"concern[ed] about [a] possible
ambiguity" in the Measure. Perlmutter Decl. Ex. 3.
After discussions with Mr. Perlmutter, the City
Attorney concluded "that the purpose and intent of
the initiative could be [] easily clarified
by minor revisions," and he proposed such revisions
in writing. Id. A few days later, Mr. Gray
submitted the second--and final--version of Measure
E, revised to address the City Attorney's concerns.
Id., Ex. 4.
On March 10, 2000, the City Attorney provided
the City Clerk with the official ballot summary.
Id. Ex. 5. Although it is common for city attorneys
and county counsel to express any concerns they may
have about a proposed initiative's validity in the
official summary, see Id. Exs. 6 & 7, the City
Attorney expressed no such concerns here. Notably,
however, the official summary did close with the
following legal conclusion:
If the City's current General Plan
is revised or amended (as is presently proposed)
prior to the adoption of this initiative, that
new General Plan would have to be further
revised or amended as soon as possible to the
extent that it or any provisions therein are
inconsistent with any provisions and policies of
this initiative.
Complaint, Ex. A. This legal conclusion is
unquestionably correct. See infra Part II.D.
Measure E's supporters quickly gathered nearly
twice the requisite number of signatures to place
the initiative on the ballot and, on May 4, 2000,
submitted these signatures to the City Clerk.
Perlmutter Decl. ¶ 17. LandWatch actively
supported the proponents of Measure E in this
process, but played no official role in proposing
or qualifying the measure for the ballot. Id.
¶ 18.
On July 18, 2000, the City Clerk verified that
the petitions contained the sufficient number of
valid signatures. Id. ¶ 19. Pursuant to its
mandatory duty to either adopt any qualifying
measure without change or to place it on the
ballot, the Council voted that same day to place
the initiative on the November 7, 2000 ballot. Id.;
see § 9215; Save Stanislaus Area Farm Econ. v.
Board of Supervisors, 13 Cal.App.4th 141, 149
(1993) ("SAFE") (council has no power to
"unilaterally decide to prevent a duly qualified
initiative from being presented to the
electorate").
As required by the Elections Code, the official
ballot materials presented to the voters contained
the City Attorney's "Impartial Analysis of Measure
E." See King v. Lewis, 219 Cal.App.3d 552, 556-57
& n.3 (1990) ("impartial analysis" must be
"accurate" and free from opinion). The Impartial
Analysis reiterated that, in the event the Council
subsequently revised or amended the City's General
Plan in a manner that was inconsistent with Measure
E, the mandatory remedy, if the voters also
approved Measure E, would be for the Council to
further revise or amend the General Plan "as soon
as possible" to be consistent with Measure E.
Perlmutter Decl. Ex. 8.
The City Attorney's official advice apparently
fell on deaf ears at the Council. Indeed, after
Measure E qualified for the ballot, the Council
appears to have speeded up the process of amending
the General Plan. The Marina Planning Commission,
which normally meets twice a month, met seven times
between August 10, and September 21, when it
formally recommended that the Council adopt the new
General Plan. Id. Ex. 9. The Council immediately
moved into high gear, holding no less than seven
meetings regarding the proposed General Plan
between September 5 and October 31. Id. Moreover,
the Council did so in a manner that it was informed
would conflict with the initiative.[2]
While Measure E would restrict urban development
beyond the UGB, the new General Plan then being
drafted would allow intensive development in that
same area.
Marina 2020, LandWatch, and over 150 Marina
citizens urged the Council not to take final action
on the proposed General Plan until after the
imminent election. Id. Exs. 11-12. Instead of
waiting seven days to see what the voters thought,
however, the Council hastily adopted the new
General Plan on October 31, Halloween night. One
week later, on November 7, with the support of
Marina 2020, the local League of Women Voters, the
Sierra Club, LandWatch, and many others, the City's
voters adopted Measure E. Under state law, the new
General Plan did not become effective until, at the
very earliest, 30 days after the Council's vote
(i.e., Nov. 30, 2000). Complaint ¶ 3. Thus,
when the voters adopted Measure E on November 7,
2000, the old General Plan remained in effect. The
Council certified the results of the November 7
election on December 5, five days after the new
General Plan allegedly took effect. Id. ¶
4.
III. THE CITY SUES
LANDWATCH
After the voters adopted Measure E, the Council
refused to follow the City Attorney's earlier
advice that the new General Plan must be amended
"as soon possible" to remove any inconsistencies
with the initiative. Indeed, more than four months
after the election, the Council has yet to take any
specific steps to revise the new General Plan,
other than to "direct[] City staff to
obtain proposals for this work." White Paper at 4
(emphasis added). Instead, on February 1, 2001, the
Council instituted the instant action for
declaratory relief against LandWatch, as a
supporter of the initiative, and various property
owners, who allegedly oppose it. The Council did
not name as a defendant Mr. Gray, who was the sole
signatory to the official NOI. Nor did it name any
of the six other proponents, including City
Councilman Bruce Delgado, who signed the official
ballot arguments in favor of Measure E, or any of
the 2,925 Marina citizens who voted for it. The
Council did, however, "invite[] Vision 2020
and its members to intervene or answer as Doe
defendants." Complaint ¶ 7.
Since then, the Council has sought to justify
its decision to bring the instant challenge to
Measure E. For instance, although the Council
acknowledges that it has yet to begin implementing
Measure E, it has explained in Orwellian fashion,
that "[b]y acting quickly to obtain full
declaratory relief from the courts, the Council has
ensured that the implementation process will start
at once. . . ." White Paper at 4 (emphasis added);
see id. at 3 (insisting that "we are not attempting
to frustrate the will of the people"). Moreover,
four days after the Council filed its suit, a group
of property owners filed a cross-complaint seeking
to invalidate Measure E in its entirety. This
facial attack, which the Council claims it knew
"the land owner and developer would be filing
[] with or without the City doing so first"
(id. at 4), belies the Council's claim that its
declaratory relief action was necessary to secure a
ruling on the Measure's validity. Id. at 3.
Despite this cross-complaint, and LandWatch's
repeated requests that the City dismiss its
Complaint (see Perlmutter Decl. Exs. 13 & 14),
the City inexplicably continues to pursue its
"declaratory relief" action. Accordingly, LandWatch
brings the present motion to strike the City's
action, as against LandWatch. To ensure that the
City actually defends Measure E, LandWatch also
intends to file shortly a Petition for Writ of
Mandate requesting that the Court order the Council
to: (1) comply with its mandatory duty to defend
Measure E; and (2) dismiss its declaratory relief
action. This separate Petition is necessary
because, while the present motion will remove
LandWatch as a party defendant, it will not prevent
the City from continuing its ill-conceived
declaratory relief action. Of course, LandWatch
reserves the right to subsequently seek
intervention in the property owners' cross-claim,
to help defend Measure E, pursuant to Building
Industry Ass'n v. City of Camarillo, 41 Cal.3d 810,
822 (1986) ("BIA").
IV. THE CITY'S ACTION
AGAINST LANDWATCH MUST BE STRUCK BECAUSE IT ARISES
FROM LANDWATCH'S EXERCISE OF ITS MEMBERS' FIRST
AMENDMENT RIGHTS AND BECAUSE THE COUNCIL CANNOT
ESTABLISH A REASONABLE PROBABILITY THAT IT WILL
PREVAIL.
Under CCP section 425.16, this Court must strike a
cause of action if it arises out of a person's
exercise of First Amendment rights, unless the
plaintiff can establish a substantial probability
that it will prevail. The operative language is as
follows:
A cause of action against a person
arising from any act of that person in
furtherance of the person's right of petition or
free speech under the United States or
California Constitution in connection with a
public issue shall be subject to a special
motion to strike, unless the court determines
that the plaintiff has established that there is
a probability that the plaintiff will prevail on
the claim.
CCP § 425.16(b)(1). To prevail on a motion
to strike, the defendant must make a prima facie
showing that the plaintiff's suit arises from the
exercise of free speech or petition rights
enumerated in subsection (e) of section 425.16. The
burden is then on the plaintiff to show a
"reasonable" probability that it will prevail.
Equilon Enterprises v. Consumer Cause, Inc., 102
Cal.Rptr.2d 371, 375-77 (2000) (applying the
statute to strike an action brought against a
nonprofit corporation). Because LandWatch was
targeted by the City based solely on the exercise
of its members' First Amendment rights, and because
the City cannot possibly prevail in its
post-election attack on an adopted initiative, the
Court must grant LandWatch's motion.
A. The City's Lawsuit
Arises out of LandWatch's Exercise of its Members'
Free Speech and Petition Rights in Connection with
a Public Issue.
The Legislature and the California courts have
expressly directed that the anti-SLAPP statute be
applied as "broadly" as possible. CCP §
425.16(a); Averill v. Superior Court, 42 Cal.App4th
1170, 1176 (1996). Under any interpretation of the
statute, however, there is no doubt that supporting
an initiative measure--which is the only reason
that the Council chose to sue LandWatch--is a form
of protected speech and petition activity.
Specifically, the City alleges that LandWatch: (1)
"may have" participated in the drafting of Measure
E; (2) was "a major proponent" of the Measure; and
(3) made remarks regarding Measure E at a City
Council hearing. Complaint ¶ 6. Each of these
activities is expressly protected by CCP section
425.16(e), which covers:
(1) any written or oral statement [ ]
made before a legislative [ ] proceeding, .
. . (3) any written or oral statement [ ]
made in a . . . public forum in connection with an
issue of public interest; (4) or any other conduct
in furtherance of the exercise of the
constitutional right of petition or . . . free
speech in connection with a public issue.
To propose and advocate for a ballot measure is
"core" political speech, for which the First
Amendment's protection "is at its zenith." Buckley
v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, 525 U.S.
182, 187 (1999). The California Constitution
similarly declares that the "'people have the right
to [] petition government for redress of
grievances' . . . . That right in California is,
moreover, vital to a basic process in the state's
constitutional scheme -- direct initiation of
change by the citizenry through initiative." Robins
v. Pruneyard Shopping Ctr., 23 Cal.3d 899, 907-08
(1979). Accordingly, the courts have repeatedly
held that the anti-SLAPP statute applies to
statements made during political campaigns. Conroy
v. Spitzer, 70 Cal.App.4th 1446, 1454 (1999)
(granting motion to strike suit based on
defendant's campaign statements about a candidate's
qualifications); Beilenson v. Superior Court, 44
Cal.App.4th 944, 956 (1996) (same); Matson v.
Dvorak, 40 Cal.App.4th 539, 549 (1995) (same);
Robertson v. Rodriguez, 36 Cal.App.4th 347, 360
(1995) (same re recall election). Of necessity, the
anti-SLAPP statute also applies to initiative
campaigns.
The Council's unprecedented and unlawful use of
taxpayer funds to shift its burden of defending
Measure E onto one of the measure's non-profit
supporters has ramifications that extend far beyond
this case. The City's lawsuit, if permitted to
proceed, will have the profound effect of chilling
the valid exercise of First Amendment rights by
ordinary citizens. Few citizens would be willing to
actively support an initiative once they realize
they may be sued by the very government to which
their initiative is directed. Simply stated, the
City's lawsuit is barred by CCP section 425.16
because action "protected under the First Amendment
. . . cannot be the basis for litigation." Ludwig
v. Superior Court, 37 Cal.App.4th 8, 22 (1995).
B. The City Cannot
Establish a Reasonable Probability That it Will
Prevail.
Because the City's action plainly arises from
LandWatch's exercise of First Amendment rights, the
burden shifts to the City to establish a
"reasonable" probability that it will prevail on
its claim. Equilon, 102 Cal.Rptr.2d. at 377. The
City cannot meet this burden here, for four
independent reasons. First, as a matter of law, the
City has a mandatory duty to defend Measure E; it
simply has no power to use taxpayer funds
proactively to contest an adopted initiative
measure that it is now charged with enforcing.
Second, declaratory relief is not available against
LandWatch because there is no actual controversy
between LandWatch and the City. Third, under the
Noerr-Pennington doctrine, a private organization
such as LandWatch cannot be sued based upon the
exercise of its members' free speech and petition
rights. And fourth, even assuming this Court were
to reach the merits of the City's lawsuit, Measure
E is plainly valid. If the Court agrees with any of
these four arguments, it must grant the motion to
strike.
1. Under the
California Constitution and Elections Code, the
City May Not Use Taxpayer Funds to Sue Private
Organizations to Invalidate a Law That the City Has
a Duty to Defend.
Declaratory relief is not available to the City
here because "a city or county is required to
defend an [adopted] initiative ordinance."
BIA, 41 Cal.3d at 822. This duty is rooted in the
fact that the constitutionally reserved initiative
power not only is "greater than that of the
[legislative body]", but in fact gives the
people "the final legislative word, a limitation
upon the power of the Legislature." Rossi, 9
Cal.4th at 704. Indeed, for the past century,
California citizens have exercised their reserved
powers of initiative and referendum as a
"legislative battering ram" for the purpose of
"tear[ing] through the exasperating tangle
of the traditional legislative procedure and
strik[ing] directly toward the desired
end." Amador Valley Joint Union High Sch. Dist. v.
State Bd. of Equalization, 22 Cal.3d 208, 228
(1978). In Rossi, 9 Cal.4th at 695, the Supreme
Court reiterated its long-standing directive that
the judiciary must jealously guard and protect this
power:
The initiative and referendum are not rights
'granted to the people, but . . . power[s]
reserved by them. Declaring it the duty of the
courts to jealously guard this right of the
people', the courts have described the initiative
and referendum as articulating 'one of the most
precious rights of our democratic process.'
[I]t has long been our judicial policy to
apply a liberal construction to this power wherever
it is challenged in order that the right not be
improperly annulled. If doubts can reasonably be
resolved in favor of the use of this reserved
power, courts will preserve it.
Because of this constitutionally compelled
mandate, a number of legal safeguards exist to
"ensur[e] that successful initiatives will
not be undone by subsequent hostile boards of
supervisors." DeVita v. County of Napa, 9 Cal.4th
763, 788 (1995). Most importantly, the Legislature
has expressly provided that "[i]f a
majority of the voters voting on a proposed
ordinance vote in its favor, the ordinance shall
become a valid and binding ordinance of the city. .
. . No ordinance that is . . . adopted by the
voters[] shall be repealed or amended
except by a vote of the people . . ." § 9217
(emphasis added); see DeVita, 9 Cal.4th at 796-97
(applying analogous provisions of section 9125 to
uphold an initiative general plan amendment that,
like Measure E, prohibited county elected officials
from changing the relevant provisions of the
general plan without a vote of the people).
As noted above, the Supreme Court in BIA
expressly recognized the legislative body's duty to
defend a duly adopted initiative, which is grounded
in these same constitutional principles. At issue
in BIA was whether Evidence Code section
669.5--which places the burden of defending a
growth control ordinance on its proponents--applied
to adopted initiatives. An amicus had argued that
section 669.5 should not apply because local
elected officials, like the Council here, generally
do not favor slow-growth initiatives and would
therefore not conscientiously defend them. The
Supreme Court rejected that argument, noting that
the "the city or county would have a duty to defend
the ordinance."[3] BIA, 41 Cal.3d at 822.
Of course, the Court was also realistic enough to
recognize that, despite this duty, the city "might
not [defend] with vigor if it has
underlying opposition to the ordinance." Id.
Accordingly, the Court concluded that the
initiative proponents should be allowed to
intervene, if they so chose. Id.
In the entire history of the initiative power in
this state, however, not a single published case
has ever found--or even remotely suggested--that a
legislative body has the power to avoid its duty to
defend an adopted initiative, or to shift that
obligation to a private party. Rather, even hostile
city councils and boards of supervisors that
initially opposed initiative measures have
repeatedly recognized that, once the voters have
spoken, their elected officials have the duty to
defend and uphold the voters' final legislative
word. See, e.g., DeVita, 9 Cal.4th at 771, 788;
Lesher Communications, Inc. v. City of Walnut
Creek, 52 Cal.3d 534, 551(1990) (Mosk, J,.
dissenting); Mervyn's v. Reyes, 69 Cal.App.4th 93,
98-99 (1999) (council voluntarily adopted
qualifying measure that flatly reversed council
majority and defended measure in court); Bank of
the Orient v. Town of Tiburon, 220 Cal.App.3d 992,
997 (1990); BIA v. Oceanside, 27 Cal.App.4th 744,
748 (1994). Indeed, in the one Supreme Court
decision where the council decided not to
vigorously defend a challenge brought by a third
party, the Court roundly condemned the city
attorney for not doing so. Arnel Dev. Co. v. City
of Costa Mesa, 28 Cal.3d 511, 514 n.3 (1980). The
Court stated, "Apparently believing that his duty
is to represent the city council instead of the
voters of Costa Mesa, the city attorney did not
defend the initiative. When the Court of Appeal
held the initiative invalid, he did not petition
this court for hearing." Id. So outraged was the
Court that, on its own motion, it reviewed the
court of appeal decision invalidating the
initiative and reversed. Id.
Does this mean that a council is powerless to
prevent the expenditure of public funds on a
measure that it firmly believes is invalid? Not at
all. While the courts have insisted that public
officials' duties with respect to proposed measures
are almost entirely ministerial [4], they
nonetheless have carved out a narrow exception for
precisely this situation. If a council believes
that it can make a compelling showing that a
measure is clearly invalid, it may seek judicial
review before the election to determine whether the
matter should be placed before the voters. SAFE, 13
Cal.App.4th at 149; deBottari, 171 Cal.App.3d at
1209 (council may lawfully withhold a qualified
measure from the ballot only if it is "'directed to
do [so] by a court on a compelling showing
that a proper case has been established for
interfering with the [initiative] power'");
see Schmitz v. Younger, 21 Cal.3d 90, 92-93 (1978)
(even where the Attorney General believes an
initiative is invalid, he has a ministerial duty to
prepare a ballot title and summary, but noting that
"[t]his does not mean that the Attorney
General may not challenge the validity of a
proposed measure by timely and appropriate legal
action").
The City did not take advantage of this
procedure here by filing a timely pre-election
challenge to Measure E. Nor could it have done so
successfully. As the Council itself acknowledged in
its White Paper, the primary basis for Measure E's
alleged invalidity (viz., its inconsistency with
the new General Plan) did not even exist until at
least 23 days after the election. See White Paper
at 5-6. Now that the voters have enacted Measure E,
the Council may not properly initiate a
post-election court challenge questioning the
measure's validity. Rather, the validity of Measure
E, like any other city enactment, is properly
tested in an action against the governmental
official or entity responsible for its
enforcement--not against a private party that
supported enactment of the ordinance. CCP §
1085; see, e.g., Legislature v. Eu, 54 Cal.3d 492
(1991); BIA, supra. Of course, in the present case,
such a post-election challenge to Measure E has
already been filed against the City. The City's
declaratory relief action should be stricken.
2. The City Cannot
State a Cause of Action Against LandWatch Because
there is no Present Controversy Between LandWatch
and the City Over the Validity of Measure
E.
The City's Complaint should also be stricken
because declaratory relief is available only in
cases of "an actual controversy relating to the
legal rights and duties of the respective parties."
CCP § 1060; see Selby Realty Co. v. City of
San Buenaventura, 10 Cal.3d 110, 117-18 (1973);
Equilon, 102 Cal.Rptr.2d at 377. Here, there is no
actual controversy between the City and LandWatch
over Measure E's validity, for two reasons. First,
there is simply no valid basis for the Council
choosing to sue LandWatch, as opposed to any other
supporter of Measure E, or indeed any other Marina
resident. Second, even assuming arguendo that
LandWatch could be a proper party, the City has not
alleged any facts that remotely constitute a
concrete, justiciable controversy. The City has
alleged only that it "has been advised that all or
portions of Measure E may be invalid." Complaint
¶ 1. It has not alleged that it will refuse to
implement Measure E or that LandWatch intends to
sue the City to force it to implement Measure
E.[5] Thus, the City brings this lawsuit
only to ask the Court to resolve, in the absence of
an actual controversy, the "uncertainty" regarding
Measure E and the City's General Plan. Id.
This alleged uncertainty does not constitute a
justiciable controversy under CCP section 1060.
City of Santa Rosa v. Press Democrat, 187
Cal.App.3d 1315 (1986), which dealt with a similar
situation, is controlling. In that case, the City
of Santa Rosa sought declaratory relief regarding
the scope of its disclosure obligations under the
Public Records Act. The city had not yet determined
whether to disclose the requested material and
there was no allegation that the requestor, if
refused, would bring an action to compel
disclosure. Nonetheless, the city, like the Council
here, hauled the defendant into court and
essentially asked the court to tell it what to do.
The court squarely rejected the notion that
declaratory relief was available, holding that a
"difference of opinion as to the interpretation of
a statute as between a citizen and a governmental
agency does not give rise to a justiciable
controversy and provides no compelling reason for a
court to attempt to direct the manner by which the
agency shall administer the law." Id. at 1324; see
also Equilon, 102 Cal.Rptr.2d at 377-78 (granting
anti-SLAPP motion and dismissing declaratory relief
action brought against nonprofit organization that
had filed a notice of intent to sue under
Proposition 65).
3. Under the
Noerr-Pennington Doctrine, A Private Entity Cannot
Be Sued Based Upon the Exercise of Free Speech and
Petition Rights.
The City's lawsuit is also barred under the
Noerr-Pennington doctrine. Rooted in the First
Amendment right of all citizens to petition the
government, this doctrine creates a virtually
unqualified immunity from suit for citizens
exercising these rights. As stated by Ludwig,
supra, "an action protected under the First
Amendment by the right of petition cannot be the
basis for litigation." 37 Cal.App.4th at 22.
Noerr-Pennington applies broadly to all litigation
arising out of First Amendment activities and "to
all facets of the exercise of the right of
petition, from litigation to attempts to influence
opinion." Id. at 21 n.17, 23 n.22. Thus, for
instance, the Supreme Court has long held that
governmental entities cannot bring malicious
prosecution lawsuits--even against the most
bad-faith litigants--because such
government-sponsored litigation would
unconstitutionally chill the First Amendment right
to petition the government. City of Long Beach v.
Bozek, 31 Cal.3d 527, 537-39 (1982).
Ludwig raises facts closely analogous to those
here. That case involved an individual, Ludwig, who
desired to develop a shopping mall in one of two
adjacent cities. The neighboring City of Barstow
hoped to attract a mall of its own. To forestall
competition from a Barstow mall, Ludwig funded
lawsuits against the City, as well as protests to
the Barstow City Council by various individuals. 37
Cal.App.4th at 13-14, 21. In response, the City of
Barstow sued Ludwig. The Court of Appeal held that
the activities funded by Ludwig were protected by
the First Amendment and therefore could not, under
Noerr-Pennington, be the basis for the City's
litigation against Ludwig--unless their activities
were a "sham" and "baseless." Id. at 21-23.
Accordingly, the appellate court reversed the trial
court and ordered it to grant Ludwig's motion to
strike the City's action.
Here, the only factual predicate underlying the
City's choosing to attack LandWatch is LandWatch's
exercise of its members' First Amendment rights.
The City's lawsuit is even more egregious than the
lawsuits brought by the cities in Bozek and Ludwig
because, unlike the bad-faith litigants there,
LandWatch has not undertaken any activity that
harms the public trust. Rather, LandWatch is being
subjected to a retaliatory lawsuit by government
officials simply because it supported Measure E.
Such conduct undermines the very purpose of the
First Amendment right to petition the government
for redress of grievances, and should not be
permitted to stand.
4. Measure E is
Plainly Valid.
The Council offers three vague and conclusory
reasons why Measure E "may" allegedly be invalid:
"(a) it is inconsistent with the General Plan that
was in effect when the [Measure] took
effect; (b) it directs the City Council to enact
laws that are not expressly stated in the
[Measure]; and (c) it violates State law
that requires the City to accommodate its fair
share of housing." Complaint ¶ 11. Because
LandWatch's motion to strike rests on other,
independent grounds discussed above, the Court need
not reach the issue of Measure E's validity to
grant the motion; and, of course, this issue will
be adjudicated in the property owners' cross-claim
against the City. However, LandWatch briefly
explains below why the City's allegations are so
lacking in legal or factual support that, even if
the City could properly bring this action against
LandWatch, it cannot establish the "reasonable
probability" of prevailing on the merits necessary
to survive LandWatch's motion.
a. The City's General
Plan Consistency Argument Cannot
Succeed.
Even assuming that the new General Plan took effect
prior to, and is inconsistent with, Measure E,
there is no legal authority to support the
contention that Measure E should not be given
effect. Rather, as the City Attorney explained to
the voters and the Council in both the Impartial
Analysis and the official ballot summary, the
Council must implement the voters' will by amending
the General Plan "as soon as possible" to be
consistent with Measure E. See, e.g., Complaint,
Ex. A; Perlmutter Decl. Ex. 8.
This is so because, if the Court were to find
such an "internal" or "horizontal" general plan
inconsistency, no law requires that the most recent
plan amendment be rescinded. Rather, state law
mandates that the appropriate remedy would be a
compliance decree ordering the City to "bring its
general plan . . . into compliance with the
[Planning and Zoning Law] within 120 days."
Gov't Code § 65754(a). As the Supreme Court
explained in Lesher, this section "provides that if
the court finds inconsistencies in a general plan,
the city must amend the general plan to bring it
into conformity with the requirements of the
Planning and Zoning Law." Lesher, 52 Cal.3d at 546
n.12;[6] see also Garat v. City of
Riverside, 2 Cal.App.4th 259, 303 & n.33 (1991)
(same).
Because the Council has no power to amend
Measure E (§ 9217), the only way it could
comply with such an order would be to amend other
portions of the General Plan to achieve the
required consistency. See, e.g., DeVita, 9 Cal.4th
at 796-97 ("We see no difference in principle
between an initiative which bars a city council
from repealing newly enacted zoning restrictions,
and one which freezes existing restrictions;
either, to be effective, must limit the power of a
hostile city council to evade or repeal the
initiative ordinance"); Rossi, 9 Cal.4th at 715-16
("The people's reserved power of initiative is
greater than the power of the legislative body. . .
. [A]n initiative measure may be amended or
repealed only by the electorate. Thus, through
exercise of the initiative power the people may
bind future legislative bodies other than the
people themselves.").
Any other holding would render it impossible for
the people, in the face of a hostile city council
or board of supervisors, to amend their general
plan by initiative. Because of the procedural
requirements set forth in the Elections Code, it
generally takes a minimum of six months, and
usually much longer, between the formal filing of a
proposed initiative with the city clerk and the
election on the proposed measure. See generally
Rossi, 9 Cal.4th at 703-04. According to the novel
theory presented in the City's Complaint, the
council or board could simply amend the existing
general plan in this intervening period, as the
Council hastily did here, to create an
inconsistency with the proposed measure. If this
were sufficient to render the initiative invalid,
then the initiative power effectively would no
longer be available to amend the general plan.
Such a result would directly contravene the
Supreme Court's express holding that general plans
may be amended by initiative, DeVita, 9 Cal.4th at
795-96, and defies common sense. Instead, the new
General Plan must be amended to conform to Measure
E. "To hold otherwise would place an insurmountable
obstacle in the path of the initiative process and
effectively give legislative bodies the only
authority to enact this sort of [planning]
ordinance." BIA, 41 Cal.3d at 824 (explaining why
Gov't Code § 65863.6, which requires local
legislative bodies to make certain findings before
they can adopt ordinances affecting housing supply,
could not constitutionally apply to
initiatives).
b. The City's Other
Purported Claims Lack Merit.
The City's second basis for attacking Measure E is
that it allegedly "directs the City Council to
enact laws that are not expressly stated in the
initiative." Complaint ¶ 11 (presumably
referring to Measure E's implementation provision,
section 5, which directs the Council to amend, as
necessary, the General Plan and subordinate land
use policies to conform to Measure E). The main
problem with this claim, which is one of the
boilerplate claims favored by developers attacking
land use initiatives, is that the Court of Appeal
expressly rejected it in Pala Band of Mission
Indians v. Board of Supervisors, 54 Cal.App.4th 565
(1997). Measure E's implementation language was
patterned virtually verbatim after the
implementation clause upheld in that case, which
"authorized and directed [the County] to
amend other elements of the General Plan,
sub-regional plans, community plans, Zoning
Ordinance, and other ordinances and polices
affected by this initiative as soon as possible."
Id. at 575 n.6. The Court emphatically rejected any
notion that this language improperly constituted
"indirect" legislation, holding instead that it was
valid "enabling legislation" designed to ensure
general plan consistency. Id. at 577-78.
The City's third basis for attacking Measure E
is so conclusory and vague that it could not
possibly survive a demurrer. The Council simply
alleges that Measure E "violates State law that
requires the City to accommodate its fair share of
housing." Complaint ¶ 11. This rote allegation
suffers from two fatal flaws. First, it is devoid
of any specific allegations and therefore is
insufficient to support a claim for declaratory
relief. See CCP § 430.10(e), (f); Ankeny v.
Lockheed Missiles, 88 Cal.App.3d 531, 537 (1979).
Second, this attack, which is limited to a facial
challenge, fails to recognize that Measure E
contains an express exception allowing the Council
to amend the Measure "to comply with any applicable
state law relating to the provision of housing . .
." See, e.g., Measure E, § 2 (Policy
1.2(a)).
V CONCLUSION
LandWatch respectfully requests that the
Court grant its motion to strike and award
LandWatch attorneys fees pursuant to the mandatory
provisions of CCP § 425.16(c).
Dated: April ___, 2001 SHUTE, MIHALY &
WEINBERGER LLP
By:_________________________________
ROBERT S. PERLMUTTER
Attorneys for Defendant
LANDWATCH MONTEREY COUNTY
[1] Unless indicated otherwise, all
further statutory references are to the Elections
Code.
[2] Marina City Council, "Measure E
Background/Briefing Paper" at 2, 5 (March 5, 2001)
("White Paper") (attached to Perlmutter Decl. as
Ex. 10).
[3] This constitutionally based duty to
defend enacted initiatives is consistent with the
general duty of public officials to defend enacted
legislation. See, e.g., Deukmejian v. Brown, 29
Cal.3d 150, 158 (1981) (agreeing with a "federal
court [which] found it incongruous for an
attorney general, purporting to act for the people,
to mount 'an attack by the State upon the validity
of an enactment of its own legislature.'"); Cal.
Const. Art. III, § 3.5; 64 Op. Atty. Gen. 690
(1981).
[4] E.g., SAFE, 13 Cal.App.4th at 149
(board of supervisors has no power to "unilaterally
decide to prevent a duly qualified initiative from
being presented to the electorate"); deBottari v.
Norco City Council, 171 Cal.App.3d 1204, 1209
(1985) (same re city council); see, e.g., Farley v.
Healey, 67 Cal.2d 325, 327 (1967) (same re
registrar of voters) Billig v. Voges, 223
Cal.App.3d 962, 968-69 (1990) (same re city
clerk).
[5] The writ action LandWatch intends to
file goes only to the City's duty to defend Measure
E and thus does not create a controversy over the
initiative's validity. The filing of a
cross-complaint by various property owners likewise
does not create an actual controversy between the
City and LandWatch, although it does remove the
City's asserted basis for prosecuting its own
declaratory relief action.
[6] The Court in Lesher thus
distinguished the instant case from the situation
where a subordinate zoning ordinance is
"vertically" inconsistent with the General
Plan.
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
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FEDERAL CASES
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Buckley v. American Constitutional Law
Foundation,
|
|
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525 U.S. 182 (1999)
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6
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STATE CASES
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|
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Amador Valley Joint Union High Sch.
District v. State Board of
Equalization,
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|
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22 Cal.3d 208 (1978)
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8
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|
|
|
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Ankeny v. Lockheed Missiles,
|
|
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88 Cal.App.3d 531 (1979)
|
15
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|
|
|
|
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Arnel Development Co. v. City of Costa
Mesa,
|
|
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28 Cal.3d 511 (1980)
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9
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|
|
|
|
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Averill v. Superior Court,
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|
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42 Cal.App.4th 1170 (1996)
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6
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|
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|
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BIA v. Oceanside,
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|
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27 Cal.App.4th 744 (1994)
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9, 10
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|
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|
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Bank of the Orient v. Town of
Tiburon,
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|
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220 Cal.App.3d 992 (1990)
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9
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|
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|
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Beilenson v. Superior Court,
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|
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44 Cal.App.4th 944 (1996)
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7
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|
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Billig v. Voges,
|
|
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223 Cal.App.3d 962 (1990)
|
10
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|
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Building Industry Association v. City
of Camarillo,
|
|
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41 Cal.3d 810 (1986)
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5, 8, 9, 14
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City of Long Beach v. Bozek,
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31 Cal.3d 527 (1982)
|
12
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|
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City of Santa Rosa v. Press
Democrat,
|
|
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187 Cal.App.3d 1315 (1986)
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11
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|
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Conroy v. Spitzer,
|
|
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70 Cal.App.4th 1446 (1999)
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7
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|
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deBottari v. Norco City Council,
|
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171 Cal.App.3d 1204 (1985)
|
10
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DeVita v. County of Napa,
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9 Cal.4th 763 (1995)
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8, 9, 14
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Deukmejian v. Brown,
|
|
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29 Cal.3d 150 (1981)
|
9
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|
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Equilon Enterprises v. Consumer Cause,
Inc.,
|
|
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102 Cal.Rptr.2d 371 (2000)
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6, 7, 11
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Farley v. Healey,
|
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67 Cal.2d 325 (1967)
|
10
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Garat v. City of Riverside,
|
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2 Cal.App.4th 259 (1991)
|
13
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|
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King v. Lewis,
|
|
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219 Cal.App.3d 552 (1990)
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3
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Legislature v. Eu,
|
|
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54 Cal.3d 492 (1991)
|
10
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Lesher Communications, Inc. v. City of
Walnut Creek,
|
|
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52 Cal.3d 534 (1990)
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9, 13
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Ludwig v. Superior Court,
|
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37 Cal.App.4th 8 (1995)
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7, 12
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Matson v. Dvorak,
|
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40 Cal.App.4th 539 (1995)
|
7
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|
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Mervyn's v. Reyes,
|
|
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69 Cal.App.4th 93 (1999)
|
9
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|
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Pala Band of Mission Indians v. Board
of Supervisors,
|
|
|
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54 Cal.App.4th 565 (1997)
|
15
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|
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Robertson v. Rodriguez,
|
|
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36 Cal.App.4th 347 (1995)
|
7
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|
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Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Ctr.,
|
|
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23 Cal.3d 899 (1979)
|
6
|
|
|
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Rossi v. Brown,
|
|
|
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9 Cal.4th 688 (1995)
|
1, 8, 14
|
|
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Save Stanislaus Area Farm Econ. v.
Board of Supervisors,
|
|
|
|
13 Cal.App.4th 141 (1993)
|
3, 10
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|
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Schmitz v. Younger,
|
|
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21 Cal.3d 90 (1978)
|
10
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|
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Selby Realty Co. v. City of San
Buenaventura,
|
|
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10 Cal.3d 110 (1973)
|
11
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|
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OTHER AUTHORITIES
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|
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State Statutes
|
|
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Cal. Const. Art. III, § 3.5
|
9
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|
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Code of Civil Procedure
|
|
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§ 425.16
|
passim
|
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§ 430.10(e), (f)
|
15
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§ 1060
|
10, 11
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§ 1085
|
10
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|
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|
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Elections Code
|
|
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§ 9203
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2
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§ 9205
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2
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§ 9215
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3
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§ 9217
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8, 13
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|
|
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Evidence Code
|
|
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§ 669.5
|
8
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|
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Government Code
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|
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§ 65754(a)
|
13
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|