Aiuto

I.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs are owners of condominium units that are designated “Below Market Rate” (BMR units), and thus subject to restrictions imposed by the Below Market Rate Condominium Conversion Program (BMR Program) created by the City and County of San Francisco (the City), under authority of the state Subdivision Map Act (Gov. Code, § 66410 et seq.) (SMA). 1 Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit against the City 2 challenging ordinance No. 320-08 (the Ordinance) adopted by the City in December 2008 as part of its BMR Program. In their facial challenge, plaintiffs claim the Ordinance, which amended existing ordinances governing the BMR Program and added new provisions, constituted a regulatory taking, was preempted by state law, and violated their civil rights under 42 United States Code section 1983 .

In this interlocutory appeal, the City claims the court erred in issuing a preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo while plaintiffs’ claims were being litigated. Among other arguments, the City claims that plaintiffs did not have a reasonable probability of prevailing at the trial—one of the requirements for issuing a preliminary injunction—because all of…