Bertoli
Bertoli v. City of Sebastopol
Opinion
Opinion
Reardon, J.
— In this case involving the California Public Records Act (PRA) (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.), Julia Anna Bertoli (Bertoli) and her attorney, David Rouda (Rouda), (collectively, appellants) appeal from the trial court’s order finding their PRA litigation “clearly frivolous” and awarding costs and attorney fees to the City of Sebastopol (City) and certain other respondents pursuant to Government Code section 6259, subdivision (d). Through the PRA litigation, Bertoli and Rouda were attempting to obtain copies of relevant e-mails or other electronically stored data contained on the hard drives of past and present City officials and employees, including both municipal computers and private electronic devices. In making its frivolousness determination, the trial court found the PRA request to be unfocused and nonspecific, unduly burdensome, and an alarming invasion of privacy rights. While we do not disagree with the trial court’s characterization of the PRA request at issue, we conclude that, under the particular circumstances of this case, the court’s “clearly frivolous” finding should not stand. We therefore reverse the order for attorney fees and costs.