Li

BACKGROUND

In September 2022, Li filed a complaint for money damages alleging the City “wrongfully charged” her $4,970.22 for a “no show” inspection fee and a “lien/special assessment” on her property. Li alleged that a City inspector knew no one lived in the property after a fire damaged the property; that the inspector had her phone number and email address but never contacted her via call or email “for the inspection on February 08, 2022”; and that the inspector sent a notice to the fire-damaged property, which Li never received. Li alleged that Hayward City Hall was “closed to public and shut down for years” until May 2022, so she was “not surprised” that she did not hear from the inspector during January and February 2022. Her complaint

1 concluded “since I never received any kinds of inspection notices, I should not have been charged” $4,970.22. On February 14, 2023, the City filed a demurrer to the complaint.1 The City argued that Li failed to state any facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action (Code Civ. Proc., § 430.10, subd. (e)) on multiple grounds: she failed to exhaust her administrative remedies, waived any opportunity to challenge the alleged fines and…