First District, Division 3 Sustains Sonoma County Ordinance in Public Nuisance Action from Constitutional Attack.
Sonoma County was awarded $17,429.10 in attorney’s fees in a public nuisance action against unsuccessful defendants under Sonoma County Code section 1-7(b), which allows fees to a prevailing party in a public nuisance abatement action as long as fees are capped at the level of reasonable fees incurred by the county in the same action. Losing defendants argued that the county ordinance fee shifting provision was unconstitutional under equal access, due process, and equal protection grounds.
Defendants lost these constitutional challenges in County of Sonoma v. Brazil, Case No. A122913 (1st Dist., Div. 3 July 30, 2010) (unpublished).
In doing so, the Brazil panel observed that courts repeatedly have found no federal or state constitutional infirmity in legislative enactments limiting when and how much compensation an attorney may obtain when he/she represents a client in civil litigation. (Roa v. Lodi Medical Group, Inc., 37 Cal.3d 920, 932 & n.10 (1985); Bernardo v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 115 Cal.App.4th 332, 360-367 (2004).)