California Municipal Law Blog
category:
Recent Court Decisions
by Steven Graham on February 27, 2019
posted in
Meetings, Recent Court Decisions,
“If you will it, it is no dream…”
In an unpublished opinion filed on February 22, 2019, the California Court of Appeal for the Second District held that the City of Los Angeles violated the Brown Act when the Los Angeles City Council prevented a member of the public from commenting on real estate development at a special meeting. At issue was the application of the so-called “committee exception” to the requirement that members of the public be allowed to address the legislative body “before or during” its deliberations on an item of business.
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tags:
Brown Act, Committee Exception,
by Derek P. Cole on September 24, 2018
posted in
Code Enforcement, Recent Court Decisions,
“Anti-camping” and related “sit-lie” ordinances cannot be enforced against homeless persons who have no access to overnight shelter. As the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held on September 4, enforcement under such circumstances effectively criminalizes the status of being homeless, violating the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court’s decision, in Martin v. City of Boise, will make it difficult for local agencies to enforce their “anti-camping” ordinances to the extent they did previously.
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tags:
Anti-camping ordinances, Homelessness, Martin v. City of Boise, Sit-lie ordinances,
by Karen A. Feld on August 15, 2018
posted in
Law Enforcement, Recent Court Decisions,
The California Supreme Court issued a very favorable ruling in favor of police agencies on August 13, 2018. In an unanimous opinion, the Court ruled that a police department that requires ALL of the officers to certify that they have read and understood the vehicle-pursuit policy can claim immunity even if all its members failed to sign. Ramirez v. City of Gardena (2018) S244549.
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tags:
Ramirez v. City of Gardena, Vehicle Pursuit,
by Elizabeth Perez on July 8, 2018
posted in
Propositions 13/26/218, Recent Court Decisions, Uncategorised,
The electorate does not have a fundamental right to vote on an assessment levied upon a specific group of taxpayers for a limited (non-general governmental) purpose, a California Appellate court found in Reid et al. v. City of San Diego et al. In Reid, plaintiffs challenged a two percent assessment levied on lodging businesses operating in the City with 70 or more sleeping rooms by the City of San Diego Tourism Marketing District (TMD) to fund coordinated joint marketing and promotional activities for tourism development as violative of Proposition 26 and the Equal Protection Clause, among ... Continue Reading
tags:
Proposition 26, tourism marketing district,
by Anita Bamshad on June 14, 2018
posted in
Employment Law, Recent Court Decisions,
Paid administrative leave may be considered an adverse employment action, a California Appellate court found in Whitehall v. Cty. of San Bernardino. In Whitehall, the plaintiff was employed by San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (CFS) and was assigned to investigate a case in which a nine-month old baby died under suspicious circumstances. Plaintiff obtained the police report which showed the deceased child and four other children were living uninhabitable conditions. The report contained photographs of children with ligature and burn marks. However, the CFS deputy director instructed ... Continue Reading
tags:
Administrative Leave, Adverse Employment Action, Whistleblower Laws,
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