Even though facing a budget shortfall of more than $116 million, the City of San Jose did not get good news in litigation with COMPAC, the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee, over the constitutionality of the City’s $250 limit on individual contributions in raising money for campaign mailers (known as “soft money” contributions). COMPAC claimed the limits amounted to unconstitutional restrictions on free speech, a theory receiving a favorable ruling from a superior court judge in December 2009.
The recent bad news came in the form of the ruling on COMPAC’s request for an award of attorney’s fees and costs as the prevailing party (presumably under California’s private attorney general statute). Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Mark Pierce decided COMPAC was entitled to recover from City $418,000 in attorney’s fees and $23,000 in court costs.
Although the City could appeal, Mayor Chuck Reed is not in favor of it based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that prohibits restrictions on corporate free speech.
For more details on this story, see Scott Herhold’s article “Judge awards legal fees in case that challenged San Jose’s limits on campaign contributions” which was posted March 15, 2010 on the on-line version of San Jose’s The Mercury News.
In The News . . . . City of San Jose Suffers Adverse Fee/Costs Award Of $441,000 To Political Action Committee Challenging Constitutionality Of Individual Campaign Contributions
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