Court Declares Senate Bill 9 Unconstitutional For Charter Cities

Aleshire & Wynder, LLP Secures A Legal Win for Restoring Local Control on Housing: Court Rules In Favor of Five California Charter Cities Declaring Senate Bill 9 Unconstitutional

On April 22, 2024, at 11:00 AM, the Honorable Curtis A. Kin in Department 86 of the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a ruling granting a Petition for Writ of Mandate challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 9, as applied to charter cities.  Senate Bill 9 requires all California cities to ministerially approve an application for a lot split, and up to four total housing units, on a single-family residential lot that meets certain specified criteria. 

Five charter cities – Carson, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Del Mar, and Whitter – initiated a lawsuit in early 2022 against the State of California claiming that Senate Bill 9 is unconstitutional and invalid against charter cities.  The League of California Cities and the City of Cerritos filed respective amicus briefs in the Trial Court in support of the Charter cities’ position.  After extensive briefing and two hearings in Department 86, the Court ruled in favor of the five charter cities.  In this litigation, the charter cities are represented by Managing Partner Sunny Soltani, Equity Partner Pam Lee, Partner Michelle Villarreal, and Associate Shukan Patel of Aleshire & Wynder, LLP along with Michael Webb from the Redondo Beach City Attorney’s office.  A copy of the ruling can be found here. For further information on what this ruling means or how your city can benefit from this decision, please contact Pam Lee at plee@awattorneys.com or visit awattorneys.com.

Aleshire & Wynder Secures $271,243 Attorney Fees Award for Five Charter Law Cities against Attorney General and State of California

On October 10, 2024, the Court awarded $271,243 in attorneys’ fees in favor of Aleshire & Wynder clients City of Redondo Beach, City of Carson, City of Torrance, City of Whittier, and City of Del Mar.  A&W attorneys Michelle Villarreal and Shukan Patel appeared in Department 86 of Los Angeles Superior Court to argue in support of a Motion for Attorneys’ Fees that they brought on behalf of their five Charter Law City clients in the SB 9 litigation.  Based on their April 22, 2024 win in which the Court declared SB 9 to be unconstitutional, attorneys from Aleshire & Wynder brought a Motion for Attorney Fees under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1021.5, which allows for the collection of attorneys’ fees in litigation that results in “the enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest.”  This litigation brought and won by Aleshire & Wynder attorneys not only resulted in the enforcement of important constitutional rights and local control but also resulted in five Charter Law cities recuperating their attorneys’ fees in this case.

Documents:

• Petition
• Amended Petition
• Cities’ opening brief
• State’s opposition brief
• Cities’ reply brief
• State’s sur reply brief
• Cities’ sur reply brief
• League of Cal Cities amicus brief
• City of Cerritos amicus brief
• Final ruling