Aids Healthcare Foundation v. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Michael Weinstein (collectively the Foundation) filed a petition for writ of mandamus, seeking to compel the health officer of the Department of Public Health for the County of Los Angeles (the Department) to issue a regulatory order that requires adult film industry performers to wear condoms in the production of hardcore pornography and to obtain hepatitis B vaccinations in an effort to stem the industrywide spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the petition and entered a judgment of dismissal. We affirm.

The Health and Safety Code requires the Department’s health officer to take disease control actions that are reasonably necessary or may be necessary to control the spread of communicable and venereal diseases in Los Angeles County (County). Those regulatory actions are dependent upon the individual case and give the Department’s health officer discretion to choose among various measures, ranging from quarantine and isolation to physician referrals and testing in carrying out this duty. The Foundation asks this court in its writ petition to compel the Department to implement the…