Chodos

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and appellant Hillel Chodos (Chodos) is a lawyer practicing in the City of Los Angeles. Defendant and respondent City of Los Angeles (City) *677 required Chodos to pay additional City business taxes based on gross receipts that included what Chodos claimed were out-of-pocket costs and reimbursement of fees paid to independent counsel.

Chodos brought this action for declaratory relief. The City demurred to Chodos’s complaint on the ground that Chodos did not comply with what the City refers to as the “pay first litigate later” rule. The trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend. We affirm, holding that Chodos must first pay the disputed amount and then sue for a refund.

BACKGROUND

Chodos filed a complaint for declaratory relief in which he alleges that as a lawyer in the City, the City, after an audit, required he pay an additional amount of $13,155.47 for his business tax based on reimbursements he received for out-of-pocket costs and for fees paid to independent associated counsel. The City demurred on the ground that Chodos failed to allege that he paid the tax and was challenging the tax by way of a refund action. For this…