Ward

Petitioners Baxter Ward, Supervisor for the Fifth Supervisorial District and Chairman of the Board of Supervisors for the County of Los Angeles, and Carl Lance Brisson and Neil Frerichs, employees of the County of Los Angeles, seek a writ of mandate compelling respondent superior court to vacate its order of January 7, 1977, granting the motion of the real party in interest, Philip E. Watson, to disqualify the county counsel, John H. Larson, from representing petitioners in a lawsuit brought against petitioners by Watson “individually and as a taxpayer and resident of the County of Los Angeles.” In a 21-count complaint brought pursuant to the Civil Rights Act ( 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ) Watson sought damages and injunctive relief, claiming that petitioners violated his constitutional rights by subjecting his person and residence to unlawful surveillance, by unlawfully attempting to obtain his confidential Internal Revenue Service records and tax returns, and by publishing libelous and slanderous statements concerning him.

In support of his motion to disqualify the county counsel from further representation of petitioners in the action, Watson took the position that such…