California Supreme Court Watch

#24-33 Law Foundation of Silicon Valley v. Superior Court, S282950. (H049554; 96 Cal.App.5th 818, mod. 97 Cal.App.5th 462a; Santa Clara County Superior Court; 20CV362347.) Petition for review after the Court of Appeal denied a petition for peremptory writ of mandate.

City of Gilroy and Law Foundation of Silicon Valley were consolidated for all purposes. They both present the following issues: (1) May an organization obtain declaratory relief under the Public Records Act (Gov. Code, § 7920.000 et seq.) based on a public entity’s failure to preserve records while the organization’s requests for those records were pending? (2) Is it a violation of the Public Records Act for a public entity to fail to preserve records it determined were exempt from disclosure before a court has had an opportunity to conduct a review?

Court of Appeal Order 10/23/2023:

Let a peremptory writ of mandate issue directing the superior court to vacate the October 1, 2021 order and to enter a new order denying Law Foundation’s petition for writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory relief in its entirety. Upon finality of this decision, the temporary stay order is vacated. Costs in this original proceeding are awarded to petitioner City of Gilroy. (MJG, AMD, CEW)

Petition for review granted: 2/21/2024