Orange County Water District v. The Arnold Engineering Co.

Defendants appeal a trial court order denying their motion to disqualify the law firm of Miller, Axline & Sawyer (Miller Firm) from representing plaintiff Orange County Water District (Water District) in this action. 1 Defendants contend the decisions in County of Santa Clara v. *1115 Superior Court (2010) 50 Cal.4th 35 [ 112 Cal.Rptr.3d 697 , 235 P.3d 21 ] (Santa Clara) and People ex rel. Clancy v. Superior Court (1985) 39 Cal.3d 740 [ 218 Cal.Rptr. 24 , 705 P.2d 347 ] (Clancy) require disqualification because the Water District agreed to pay the Miller Firm a contingency fee for prosecuting this public nuisance abatement action on the public’s behalf. According to defendants, the Miller Firm’s financial interest in this litigation conflicts with the heightened duty of neutrality Clancy and Santa Clara impose on any attorney prosecuting a public nuisance action for the public’s benefit. The trial court denied defendants’ motion after finding the Water District did not bring this action on the public’s behalf, but rather to recover compensatory damages allegedly caused by defendants’ contamination of certain groundwater aquifers. We agree and affirm the trial court’s…