Secondary practice area
Third District affirms denial of validation for Department of Water Resources bond resolutions tied to the long-running Delta Conveyance Project, holding the ‘Delta Program’ is so loosely defined that it cannot qualify as a permitted modification of the Feather River Project unit of the State Water Project.
First District grants writ relief in part, holding the school district is immune under Education Code section 44808 for the death damages tied to a student’s off-campus suicide during winter break, but allowing the parents’ survival claim for on-campus harm to proceed.
Second District holds the California State University has a duty under HEERA to bargain over reasonably foreseeable effects of its 2023 student-vaccine policy on faculty health, but vacates PERB’s violation finding because there was no substantial evidence CSU had implemented the policy or definitively refused to bargain when the unfair-practice charge was filed.
Fourth District reverses denial of a preliminary injunction by a licensed sidewalk vendor against the City of San Diego, holding that at least two of the City’s vending ordinances — covering impoundment of merchandise and operating-hour restrictions — directly conflict with state sidewalk-vendor protections.
Fourth District grants writ relief, holding that Government Code section 27706(g) gives a public defender discretion to decline appointment to represent a habeas petitioner — including a Racial Justice Act claimant — without showing unavailability.
Fourth District affirms denial of writ relief in a Housing-Element Law challenge, holding that subsequent draft revisions made to obtain HCD certification need not be re-noticed for public hearing or readopted by the City Council.
First District reverses dismissal of a Brown Act suit, holding that plaintiffs adequately alleged the Berkeley City Council violated Government Code section 54957.9 by recessing disrupted meetings and reconvening them in a smaller room instead of clearing the original room and continuing in session there.
The California Supreme Court holds that requesters under the California Public Records Act can sometimes obtain declaratory relief even after the agency has produced everything responsive, but the statute does not impose a three-year duty to preserve records the agency has withheld as exempt.
First District reverses a trial-court ruling that the Mendocino Railway (operator of the Skunk Train) was not a public utility, holding that the railroad’s federal common-carrier status and demonstrated freight and passenger service make it a public utility entitled to exercise eminent domain.
Fourth District reverses a preliminary injunction that had blocked San Bernardino County from awarding its exclusive EMS contract to a fire-services bidder over incumbent AMR, holding the County retained discretion to weigh proposals and was not required to advance only the highest-scoring bid.