City of San Diego v. San Diegans for Open Government

San Diegans for Open Government (SDOG), represented by Briggs Law Corporation (BLC), filed a verified answer in response to the City of San Diego’s (City) complaint in a validation action regarding the City’s plan to levy a special tax to finance the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center. By way of its verified answer, SDOG represented that it was an interested party to the litigation. However, at the time it filed its answer, both SDOG and its counsel knew that SDOG was a suspended corporation and neither SDOG nor its attorney informed the superior court or the City of this fact. After SDOG and another defendant ultimately proved successful in the validation action, SDOG sought its attorney fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5.

The City discovered after a final judgment was entered in SDOG’s favor that SDOG had been suspended when it filed its verified answer and was not revived until well after the time period by which an interested party had to answer the validation action. As such, the City moved to strike SDOG’s answer and motion for attorney fees. The superior court denied the City’s motion and awarded SDOG attorney fees under section 1021.5,…