Valenti v. City of San Diego

94 Cal.App.5th 218

311 Cal.Rptr.3d 335

Matt VALENTI, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.CITY OF SAN DIEGO, Defendant and Respondent.

D080133

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 1, California.

Filed July 18, 2023

Briggs Law Corporation, Cory J. Briggs, San Diego, and Nora Pasin for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Mara W. Elliott, City Attorney, M. Travis Phelps, Assistant City Attorney, and Tyler L. Krentz, Deputy City Attorney, for Defendant and Respondent.

DO, J.

INTRODUCTION

This is an action under the California Public Records Act (PRA)¹ filed by Matt Valenti against the City of San Diego (City). Valenti appeals an order denying his postjudgment motion for prevailing party attorney fees against the City and granting the City's motion to strike his cost memorandum. He contends there is not sufficient evidence to support the trial court's finding that his lawsuit was not a "sufficiently ‘substantial cause’ " of the City's production of public records to merit an award of fees and costs. We conclude the record does contain substantial evidence supporting the court's finding, so we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Valenti's Requests for Public Records from the City

On July 28, 2017, Valenti submitted a request for public records to the City (first request) using the City's online web portal for public records requests. The City processed such requests using a document management system called NextRequest.

Valenti requested: "All records between January 1, 2016 and July 28, 2017 regarding: [¶] The San Diego Junior Theatre [(Junior Theatre)]"; "Deputy City Attorney Catherine Morrison and [the Junior Theatre]"; "Deputy City Attorney Joan Dawson and [the Junior Theatre]"; any of seven other individuals; as well as two attorneys and their respective law firms. The people named in this request were members of the board of the Junior Theatre.

Valenti submitted his request after a drama teacher from the Junior Theatre was sentenced to prison for committing two counts of acts of sexual misconduct with an underaged theater student. He alleged in his subsequent lawsuit that he was attempting to "find out what officials knew and when they knew it."

The City processed Valenti's first request as NextRequest No. 17-1985. On September 14, 2017, the City produced some responsive public records but withheld others as privileged. The same day, the City closed the request and sent Valenti an electronic message stating, "There are no additional responsive documents." That evening, Valenti responded with a lengthy message objecting to the City's decision to close the request and asserting, "[T]here are numerous documents known to me ... which you have failed to produce[.]" On September 15, a City staff member sent Valenti a response that stated, in part, "Thank you for your email. If you are aware of other records that are responsive, please let us know what they are." No response from Valenti to the staff member's message appears in the documentation associated with the City's processing of NextRequest No. 17-1985.

On September 19, 2017, Valenti submitted a second public records request to the City (second request) through the online web portal. He requested 13 categories of records, including: agreements between the City and the Junior Theatre; incidents of suspected child abuse; employee information; policies and procedures; board records; legal settlements; public meeting recordings; and reports made by the Junior Theatre to the police. The date range associated with most of these requests was January 1, 2012 to September 19, 2017, a wider date range than the date range associated with his first request.

The City processed Valenti's second request as NextRequest No. 17-2567. It responded by providing responsive records on a rolling basis as permitted by the PRA (see § 7922.535 ), while withholding those records it claimed were exempt from disclosure.

II.Valenti's Lawsuit Against the City

On November 18, 2017, before the City closed its response to the second request, Valenti filed the instant lawsuit. Valenti alleged the City had closed its file on his first and second requests without disclosing all responsive public records that were not exempt from disclosure. In a first cause of action for "Violation of Open Government Laws," he asserted the City had thereby violated his right of access to public information. (Boldface omitted.) He sought a writ of mandate and an injunction ordering the City to comply with the PRA by fully responding to his first and second requests. In a second cause of action for declaratory relief, he asked the court to issue an order declaring that the City's failure to disclose all public records responsive to his first and second requests violated, among other provisions, the PRA.

In September and October 2018, the City produced 4,006 pages of documents in response to discovery.

In July 2019, the trial court issued a minute order granting in part the Junior Theatre's motion to quash a subpoena served on it by Valenti. Within this order, the court rejected an argument advanced by Valenti that a funding provision within a contract between the City and the Junior Theatre "make[s] the theatre's records ‘public records.’ "

III.The Bench Trial

In February 2021, the trial court held a bench trial to resolve the parties' remaining disputes over records the City either had not produced or had produced with redactions. In a final statement of decision, the court ruled the City's redactions and withholding of records were legally justified. The court also found, among other things, that Valenti "filed the instant lawsuit[ ] before the City officially closed NextRequest No. 17-2567 [the second request]," and that "[d]iscovery resulted in the production of records beyond those sought by the First Request and Second Request." After ruling in favor of the City on Valenti's first cause of action, the court found that Valenti's cause of action for declaratory relief was moot as "[a]ll matters have been decided under the [ ]PRA claim." In August, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the City and against Valenti. Valenti did not seek review of the judgment.

IV.Valenti's Motion for Attorney's Fees and Litigation Costs as the Prevailing Party in the PRA Litigation

Valenti subsequently filed a memorandum of costs in which he sought reimbursement of $4,114.67 in litigation costs. He also filed a motion requesting an award of $250,000 in attorney fees, consisting of $200,000 in incurred fees enhanced by a multiplier of 1.25.² Relying on Sukumar v. City of San Diego (2017) 14 Cal.App.5th 451, 221 Cal.Rptr.3d 418 ( Sukumar ) and San Diegans for Open Government v. City of San Diego (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 1306, 203 Cal.Rptr.3d 34 ( San Diegans for Open Government ), superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in In re Marriage of Sahafzadeh-Taeb & Taeb (2019) 39 Cal.App.5th 124, 128, 251 Cal.Rptr.3d 610, Valenti argued that although he had not obtained a judgment against the City, his lawsuit had caused the City to produce two categories of records it would not otherwise have produced in response to his original requests, making him a prevailing party entitled to an award of attorney fees.

The first category of records consisted of 10 pages of e-mails³ that Valenti claimed were responsive to his first request because they fell within the date range of January 1, 2016 and July 28, 2017, and they "mentioned" the Junior Theatre and/or two of the individuals, and one of the law firms, specified in the first request. Valenti asserted the e-mails had been produced by the City in September and October of 2018, "in response to discovery [he] propounded[.]" He claimed his lawsuit caused the City to disclose the e-mails because the production occurred at least "a year after [the City had] closed its file for the First Request" and was made in response to his discovery requests.

The second category of records consisted of "responsive public records" that Valenti said he had received "directly from [the Junior Theatre] via subpoena[.]" Valenti argued the City's contract with the Junior Theatre gave the City constructive possession over the theater's records, and that the City therefore should have produced the theater's records in response to his PRA requests. He further argued that because he instead "had to obtain responsive public records directly from [the Junior Theatre] via subpoena," he was a prevailing party entitled to an award of attorney's fees.

Valenti's motion was supported in part by the declaration of his counsel, Cory Briggs. Briggs averred that the City had produced 4,006 pages of documents in September and October of 2018. The 10 pages of e-mails identified in the motion were "documents produced in response to discovery that are responsive to [Valenti's] first request but that were not disclosed prior to the filing of this lawsuit." Although the e-mails themselves were attached to Briggs's declaration, the discovery requests that assertedly prompted the City to produce them were not. Briggs also averred that he "had to obtain responsive public records from [the Junior Theatre], which resisted the subpoena and triggered lots of law and motion, because the City did not contact [the theater] for responsive records before or after this lawsuit was filed." However, he did not describe the subpoena or the records any further, and neither the subpoena nor the records produced by the theater were attached to Briggs's declaration or otherwise submitted in support of the motion.

V.The City's Opposition to Valenti's Fee Motion and Its Motion to Strike or Tax Valenti's Cost Memorandum

The City opposed Valenti's fee motion and moved to strike or tax his costs. The City claimed Valenti was not entitled to fees or costs because he had failed to demonstrate that his lawsuit caused the City to produce public records it would not otherwise have produced in response to his PRA requests.

With regard to the first category of records Valenti...