County of San Bernardino v. Super. Ct.

I.

INTRODUCTION

This action arises from the San Bernardino County registrar of voters (ROV)

initially miscalculating the number of signatures needed in support of plaintiffs and real 1 parties in interest’s (RPI) initiative petition to repeal a special tax associated with a fire

protection zone. The ROV told RPI the incorrect number, resulting in RPI incurring

unnecessary costs in obtaining far more signatures than were required.

Defendants and Petitioners County of San Bernadino and its ROV, Bob Page,

(collectively, the County) petition for a writ of mandate directing respondent court to

vacate its order overruling the County’s demurrer and to enter an order sustaining the

demurrer without leave to amend. The County contends that, when RPI requested the

County to inform it of the number of signatures required for its initiative petition, the

County did not owe RPI any statutory or constitutional duty to provide the information

when requested. The County further argues it is immune from liability for

communicating to RPI the incorrect number under Government Code sections 818.8 and

822.2.

We agree that under Government Code sections 815 and 815.6, the County is…