MTA

Government Code section 818 provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a public entity is not liable for damages awarded under section 3294 of the Civil Code[ ] or other damages imposed primarily for the sake of example and by way of punishing the defendant.” In this writ proceeding, we are asked to address the novel question of whether section 818 precludes the award of the civil penalty specified in the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51 et seq. [Unruh Act]) for the violation of certain of its provisions.

After the petitioner, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), was sued by the real party in interest, Jerrold J. Lyons (Lyons), for, among other things, a violation of the Unruh Act, it moved to strike Lyons’s claim for recovery of the Unruh Act’s statutory civil penalty of $25,000. The MTA argued that such civil penalty was barred by section 818. The trial court denied the motion and the MTA then sought writ relief in this court.

After a review of the relevant statutory provisions (including related legislative history) and case law, we conclude that the trial court correctly determined that the civil penalty sought by Lyons…