Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley

Plaintiffs in this action to invalidate a Berkeley ordinance that placed dollar amount limits on contributions to campaign committees for or against municipal ballot measures ultimately prevailed on appeal to the United States Supreme Court (Citizens Against Rent Control v. Berkeley (1981) 454 U.S. 290 [ 70 L.Ed.2d 492 , 102 S.Ct. 434 ]) from a decision of our state Supreme Court that had upheld the ordinance. Upon issuance of remittitur to the superior court, plaintiffs moved for an award of attorney fees under the private attorney general statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5. By two orders, the superior court awarded $209,514.50 in attorney fees and $14,539.88 in costs, which amounts included costs and fees for plaintiffs’ litigation before the United States Supreme Court. Defendants, the City of Berkeley, its city council and its fair campaign practices commission, appeal from those orders.

We will reverse the award of printing costs for the federal high court appeal but affirm the awards in all other respects.

Background

A brief summary of the underlying litigation is necessary. For convenience, we borrow in part from the opinion of the United States…