Strong

Dissatisfied with the refusal of the Sutter County Board of Supervisors (the board) to employ independent legal counsel to represent him in a dispute with the board, Sutter County Assessor Michael V. Strong instituted an ex parte proceeding under Government Code section 31000.6 (set out at length below). 1 In that proceeding, he sought “an ex parte order directing that Sutter County engage [a particular attorney] as independent counsel for [him] in lieu of representation from Sutter County Counsel.”

In response, the board argued (among other things) that the trial court’s role in a proceeding under section 31000.6 is limited to finding whether county counsel would have a conflict of interest in representing the assessor. Notwithstanding this argument, the court issued an order: (1) finding Strong was “acting within the performance of his duties” with regard to the matter for which he sought independent counsel; (2) finding there was a conflict of interest between county counsel and Strong relating to that matter; (3) finding an ethical wall could not be created to enable county counsel to represent Strong in the matter; and (4) ordering the board to select and employ…

I respectfully dissent.

In Government Code section 31000.6 1 (section 31000.6), the Legislature has provided an efficient and economical procedure for having counsel appointed for an assessor who has a conflict of interest with a board of supervisors. Unfortunately, the majority adopts an unnecessarily cramped, literal reading of the statute. Thus, the majority requires the assessor, who does not have counsel, to pursue a full-blown traditional mandamus action simply to get counsel appointed. There is no need to create this additional time-consuming and expensive litigation.

Where, as here, the majority’s literal, “plain meaning” reading of the statute produces a result that cannot be what the Legislature intended, the “plain meaning” rule must give way. “[T]he ‘plain meaning’ rule does not prohibit a court from determining whether the literal meaning of a statute comports with its purpose or whether such a construction of one provision is consistent with other provisions of the statute. The meaning of a statute may not be determined from a single word or sentence; the words must be construed in context, and provisions relating to the same subject matter must be harmonized to…

Dissatisfied with the refusal of the Sutter County Board of Supervisors (the board) to employ independent legal counsel to represent him in a dispute with the board, Sutter County Assessor Michael V. Strong instituted an ex parte proceeding under Government Code section 31000.6 (set out at length below). [1] In that proceeding, he sought "an ex parte order directing that Sutter County engage [a particular attorney] as independent counsel for [him] in lieu of representation from Sutter County Counsel."

In response, the board argued (among other things) that the trial court's role in a proceeding under section 31000.6 is limited to finding whether county counsel would have a conflict of interest in representing the assessor. Notwithstanding this argument, the court issued an order: (1) finding Strong was "acting within the performance of his duties" with regard to the matter for which he sought independent counsel; (2) finding there was a conflict of interest between county counsel and Strong relating to that matter; (3) finding an ethical wall could not be created to enable county counsel to represent Strong in the matter; and (4) ordering the board to select and…