City of South San Francisco v. Cypress Lawn Cemetery Ass'n
Opinion
Opinion
Poche, J.
The Bond and Undertaking Law (Code Civ. Proc., § 995.010 et seq.) provides that a governmental entity cannot be required to provide an undertaking in order to obtain a temporary restraining order (TRO), We hold that the public policy supporting this exemption is sufficiently strong to override a trial court’s inherent power to require an undertaking as a condition of issuing that form of interim injunctive relief. In light of this holding, we conclude that no recovery can be had from the undertaking which the trial court had no authority to require.
Background
At the start of September of 1990 Cypress Lawn Cemetery Association was about to commence construction of a mausoleum on property situated in the Town of Colma but adjoining the City of South San Francisco (SSF). Alleging that construction and operation of the mausoleum could entail adverse environmental consequences, SSF filed a complaint for various forms of injunctive relief against Colma and Cypress Lawn.
SSF’s concurrent application for immediate relief in the form of a TRO was the subject of a contested hearing at which counsel for Cypress Lawn argued that “if Your Honor were to consider issuing a TRO, ...…