Plantier

*859 Plaintiffs and appellants Eugene G. Plantier, as Trustee of the Plantier Family Trust (Plantier); Progressive Properties Incorporated (Progressive); and Premium Development LLC (Premium), on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated (collectively plaintiffs), appeal the judgment in favor of defendant and respondent Ramona Municipal Water District (District or RMWD). In this class action, the trial court found plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies under article XIII D of the California Constitution in connection with plaintiffs' substantive challenge to the method used by District to calculate wastewater service "fees or charges" 1 between about 2012 and 2014.

On appeal, plaintiffs contend the trial court erred when it found there was a mandatory exhaustion requirement in section 6 of article XIII D (hereinafter section 6). 2 Plaintiffs further contend they took the necessary steps to satisfy the general principle of exhaustion when they separately satisfied the administrative remedy in the *199 Ramona Municipal Water District Legislative Code, as amended, which District adopted in 1996 (hereinafter RMWD legislative code); and that, in any…