McKeon

In 1973-1974, defendant and appellant Hastings College of the Law (Hastings) began acquiring real property, including several residential hotels and apartment buildings, in order to expand its campus in downtown San Francisco. Pursuant to the Relocation Assistance Act, Hastings began efforts to facilitate resettlement of the tenants who might be displaced by the expansion project. Among these efforts were the renovation of two of the residential hotels in which displaced tenants were offered substitute subsidized housing. Hastings also established a committee to advise it in planning and implementing the relocation program.

Beginning in 1977 and continuing into 1978, a dispute arose between Hastings and a substantial number of the advisory committee regarding the sufficiency of Hastings’s relocation plan. A number of dissentient committee members withdrew from the committee and founded the Coalition for Adequate Relocation (COFAR). Together with Richard McKeon and Avery Montgomery, former tenants of residential hotels acquired by Hastings for the expansion site, COFAR commenced the present action by filing a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief. The gist of…