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CVP vs. Marin County: Motion For Peremptory Writ of Mandate and for Declaratory Relief
"Petitioner, Community Venture Partners, Inc., will and hereby does move the court to issue a Writ of Peremptory Mandate ordering Respondent to conform to the requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act, and for a Declaration that the County of Marin Board of Supervisors, has violated the Ralph M. Brown Act by engaging in discussion on matters outside a properly posted meeting and for not placing the discussion items on the agenda and for not providing public notice of the discussion."
Chronology:
On December 16, 2014, in response to the Marin County Board of Supervisors having held an unnoticed public hearing about the Marin County Housing Element, on August 19th, in violation with the Ralph M. Brown Act, Community Venture Partners, Inc. (CVP) filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate; Injunctive and Declaratory Relief in the Superior Court of California, County of Marin. (Copies of all documents noted are found on the CVP web site)
On March 11, 2015, in response to CVP's filing, the Marin County Board of Supervisors filed a motion to ask for denial of the claim. This unusual tactic by the County was an attempt to deny CVP's right to be heard and was consistent with their initial refusal to respond to the claim, as required by State Law.
On March 25, 2015 Superior Court Judge Roy O. Chernus denied the County's Motion for Judgment to Deny the Writ on CVP's Petition for a Writ of Mandate against Marin County. Judge Chernus ruled in CVP's favor on every substantive issue of law involved in this case, including whether the County had discretion to itself determine if a discussion is exempt from the law as a "brief report." Thus, there are no substantive legal issues left in this case and the case moved on the discovery of "facts and circumstances."
On May 15, 2015, as a part of CVP's request for "discovery," CVP filed a Request of Production of Documents with the Superior Court. CVP pursued discovery in order to assess the veracity of sworn affidavits submitted to the Court by Supervisor Katie Rice and Supervisor Judy Arnold. These affidavits denied facts and circumstances that were evidenced by the recorded video taping of the Board Meeting of August 19, 2014, in question.
After the County ignored the Court ordered due date for production of documents, County Counsel filed a statement that no documentation of any kind exist regarding the hearing discussions that took place at the Board of Supervisors on August 19, 2014.
June 12, 2015: Since the County refused to produce any documents, even though the record clearly shows that such documents exist (including documents submitted by CVP), CVP was left with no alternative but to depose Community Development Director Brian Crawford (to discern what his written presentation contained) and Supervisors Arnold and Rice (to discern the veracity of the affidavits they filed in this case). The County, once again, chose to ignore this Notice, and instead continued to argue against the Judge's prior ruling.
CVP then had no alternative other than to file a motion to compel the depositions of Community Development Director Brian Crawford, and Supervisors Arnold and Rice.
On July 8, 2015, the County filed an incomplete reply to CVP's Notice to Compel Depositions of Defendents, with incomplete references and missing pages. This was consistent with the County's continued unresponsiveness and refusal to cooperate as required by law and the rules of the Court.
It is important to note that at this juncture although CVP had a legal right to "discovery" to assess the veracity of the County's claims, it had yet to have any opportunity for that discovery to take place.
However, on July 22, 2015, the Marin Superior Court issued a ruling that denied CVP the ability to depose witnesses, even in light of the fact that the County refused to produce documents known to exist or that CVP has had no opportunity to assess the veracity of the affidavits filed by the County Supervisors, which contradict the facts and circumstances evidenced in the video tape of the August 19, 2014 hearing.
In doing this the Court moved the case toward a final briefing schedule, denying CVP any further discovery even though no actual discover had been able to take place.
This has resulted in the filing of the attached Motion for Writ of Mandate by CVP. The public can support the efforts of Community Venture Partners by donating on the CVP web site.
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