Renne Public Law Group (“RPLG”) recently prevailed in the California Supreme Court on behalf of the Los Angeles County Assessor in Prang v. Los Angeles County Assessment Appeals Board.
The 2001 California Voting Rights Act (“CVRA”) made it easier for minority groups to prove that local electoral systems undermine their voting power. Appellate courts have adopted different interpretations of what constitutes minority vote dilution. In Pico Neighborhood Ass’n v. City of Santa Monica (Aug. 24, 2023), the California Supreme Court found that vote dilution under the CVRA requires more than racially polarized voting.
The California Supreme Court recently rejected the Court of Appeal’s broad reading of Government Code section 821.6, which shields public employees acting within the scope of their employment from liability for “instituting or prosecuting any judicial or administrative proceeding” even if the action is “malicious and without probable cause.” The purpose of the statute is to protect public officials from malicious prosecution actions, but the plain language is broad enough to cover other types of tortious conduct.
