Lezama

Plaintiff Carmen Lezama and five coplaintiffs (Lezama) appeal from portions of a judgment denying declaratory and injunctive relief and attorney fees against the Justice Court of San Benito County (the justice court). We affirm.

I

The Facts

In 1981, the six plaintiffs were brought before the justice court on various misdemeanor charges arising from a labor dispute between their union and their employer. The justice court appointed defense counsel on the basis of indigence and subsequently assessed legal fees against plaintiffs at their sentencing hearings. The justice court gave no notice of hearing to determine the plaintiffs’ abilities to pay, and did not inform plaintiffs of their rights to contest the fee assessments. Penal Code section 987.8, prescribing the procedure for determining a defendant’s ability to pay the costs of appointed counsel, requires a hearing to determine such ability. The statute was amended in 1983 expressly to require notice of such a hearing, which notice must include a statement of various procedural and evidentiary rights under the statute. (Stats. 1983, ch. 142, § 120.)

Lezama took no action with regard to the fee assessments, except to…