Raja Development Co. v. Napa Sanitation District CA1/4

BACKGROUND

In May 2019, plaintiffs filed the present action seeking a refund of sewer service charges that they, as condominium owners, paid to the Napa Sanitation District (the District). They

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Code of

Civil Procedure. also sought to enjoin further collection of those charges.2 As amended, their complaint alleged, among other things, that the sewer service charge included a use fee for general operations, general revenue purposes, and other non-capacity related purposes, and that this fee was “an invalid tax because it exceeds the reasonable cost of providing the service for which it is charged, the District has not justified the fee with a nexus study, and the fee has not been approved by two-thirds of voters.” (Raja Development Co. v. Napa Sanitary Dist. (2022) 85 Cal.App.5th 85, 91.) Specifically, plaintiffs alleged that the use fee was improperly calculated for townhomes and condominiums at the same rate that was used to calculate the charges for single family homes, rather than at the lesser rate charged for apartments, and that the District had not justified the higher charges with a rate study showing that the charges…