Friedland

Introduction

A validation action (Code Civ. Proc., § 860 et seq.) allows a public agency to obtain a judgment that its financing commitments are valid, legal, and binding. If the public agency has complied with statutory requirements, the judgment in the validation action binds the agency and all other persons. The question in this appeal is whether a plaintiff can maintain a taxpayer suit filed after the period within which to appeal a judgment in a validation action has expired.

This appeal arises from a challenge to bond financing for the “Aquarium of the Pacific” (Aquarium), an aquarium facility being built in the Queens-way Bay area of Long Beach. Plaintiffs challenge resolutions of defendant public agencies which incurred financial obligations and authorized related debt instruments to build the Aquarium. The public agencies filed a validation action, complied with statutory requirements, and obtained a final judgment affirming the legality of these resolutions. Plaintiffs did not take part in, or bring a timely challenge to, the validation action. We therefore hold that the trial court properly sustained a demurrer without leave to amend to plaintiffs’ subsequent…