Tri-City Healtcare Dist. v. Sterling CA4/1

Background

Tri-City is a subdivision of the state and operates a hospital in Oceanside. The

hospital is governed by a publicly elected board of directors (the Board). At all relevant

times, Sterling was an elected member of the Board.

In March 2011, Tri-City filed section 527.8 petitions seeking to enjoin Sterling

from having any further contact with eight specified individuals, alleging Sterling had a

history of disruptive behavior and her conduct had recently escalated to include physical

assaults on Tri-City security personnel at a Board meeting. The eight individuals were:

(1) Tri-City's independent security officer Richard Crooks; (2) Tri-City's chief executive

officer Larry Anderson; (3) Tri-City's in-house counsel Matthew Soskins; and (4) five

Board members: RoseMarie Reno, Charlene Anderson, George Coulter, Dan Stein, and

Alexander Yu. Tri-City later withdrew the petitions for Board members Stein and Yu.

We shall refer to the six remaining individuals as petitioners.

Shortly after granting temporary restraining orders, the court held an evidentiary

hearing on Tri-City's request for permanent (three-year) restraining orders. During…