Blythe

In Feminist Women’s Health Center v. Blythe (1993) 17 Cal.App.4th 1543 [ 22 Cal.Rptr.2d 184 ], we addressed defendants’ challenges to the trial court’s issuance of a permanent injunction imposing time, place and manner restrictions on the activities of antiabortion demonstrators at plaintiff’s Sacramento clinic, and to the court’s order awarding plaintiff attorney fees pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5.

Rejecting defendants’ attack on the propriety and scope of the permanent injunction, we concluded: the evidence supported a finding that their conduct posed a significant threat of harm to plaintiff’s patients, infringed upon the patients’ right to privacy, and would continue if not enjoined permanently; the designation of a “speech free zone” in front of plaintiff’s clinic and the building’s private parking lot driveway was based not upon the content of defendants’ speech but upon conduct of defendants which was unprotected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 2 of the California Constitution; and the injunction was tailored narrowly to protect the patients’ privacy interest while providing defendants with…

Concurring and Dissenting. — I concur in the opinion of the court to the extent it affirms the judgment granting plaintiff a permanent injunction and reverses the order awarding plaintiff attorney fees as against defendants John Walker and Operation Rescue. I dissent from the affirmance of the trial court’s order awarding plaintiff attorney fees against the answering defendants.

Defendants attack the order for attorney fees on two grounds: (1) plaintiff failed to establish the financial burden of private enforcement is disproportionately greater than its stake in the litigation and (2) the award of attorney *1677 fees in these circumstances unconstitutionally burdens defendants’ rights of free speech. I agree the order is infirm on both grounds.

I

Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5 permits the award of attorney fees to a successful party in any action resulting in “the enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest if: (a) a significant benefit, whether pecuniary or nonpecuniary, has been conferred on the general public or a large class of persons, (b) the necessity and financial burden of private enforcement ... are such as to make the award appropriate,…

[Opinion certified for partial publication. [*] ]

OPINION

SCOTLAND, J.

In Feminist Women's Health Center v. Blythe (1993) 17 Cal. App.4th 1543 [ 22 Cal. Rptr.2d 184 ], we addressed defendants' challenges to the trial court's issuance of a permanent injunction imposing time, place and manner restrictions on the activities of antiabortion demonstrators at plaintiff's Sacramento clinic, and to the court's order awarding plaintiff attorney fees pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5. [1]

Rejecting defendants' attack on the propriety and scope of the permanent injunction, we concluded: the evidence supported a finding that their conduct posed a significant threat of harm to plaintiff's patients, infringed upon the patients' right to privacy, and would continue if not enjoined permanently; the designation of a "speech free zone" in front of plaintiff's clinic and the building's private parking lot driveway was based not upon the content of defendants' speech but upon conduct of defendants which was unprotected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 2 of the California Constitution; and the injunction was tailored narrowly to…