City of Los Angeles v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County

—Real Party in Interest Cynthia Ander son-Barker filed a petition under the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.; CPRA) to compel the City of Los Angeles (City) to disclose electronically stored documents and data that contained information relating to vehicles impounded by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The City argued that the requested materials did not qualify as “public records” because a private third party owned them.

Prior to the hearing on the petition, Ander son-Barker propounded discovery requests seeking evidence regarding the City’s claim that it did not own the materials. The City asserted a single objection to each discovery request contending that the Civil Discovery Act (Code Civ. Proc., § 2016.010 et seq.) did not apply to actions brought under the CPRA. Anderson-Barker filed a motion to compel the City to provide further responses to her discovery. The trial court granted the motion, concluding that (1) the Civil Discovery Act applied to CPRA proceedings and (2) the City had waived any other objections to the discovery requests. The court ordered the City to respond to the discovery requests without any further…