Apartment Owners Assn. of Cal. v. City of L.A. CA2/4

Filed 12/28/22 Apartment Owners Assn. of Cal. v. City of L.A. CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

APARTMENT OWNERS B313439 ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA, INC. et al., (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. Nos. BC677423, Plaintiffs and Appellants, BC709658)

v.

CITY OF LOS ANGELES,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Maren E. Nelson, Judge. Reversed and remanded with instructions. Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Torrijos, Mike Arias, Arnold C. Wang, Alfredo Torrijos; Peluso Law Group and Larry A. Peluso; Shining Law Firm and Carolin K. Shining for Plaintiffs and

Appellants Apartment Owners Association of California, Inc., Daniel C. Faller, Jasbir Dhillon, Gary Gillman and Anita Haeggstrom. Kellner Law Group and Richard L. Kellner; Kabateck and Brian S. Kabateck; Ervin Cohen Jessup, Geoffrey M. Gold and Jeffrey T. Harlan for Plaintiffs and Appellants Frederick H. Leeds individually and as trustee for the Frederick H. Leeds Intervivos Trust dated November 30, 1990, Malcolm Bennett and 7005 L.P. Michael N. Feuer, City Attorney, Scott Marcus and Blithe S. Bock, Assistant City Attorneys, Maureen Home, Sara Ugaz, Deputy City Attorneys for Defendant and Respondent.

Respondent City of Los Angeles (the City) began a program in 2017 called “recycLA.” Under that program, the City entered into contracts with seven waste haulers, pursuant to which each hauler would provide exclusive waste collection services to commercial and multi-unit dwellings in a designated zone of the city. The contracts provided that the haulers would pay the City a percentage of their gross receipts as a “franchise fee.” Appellants Apartment Owners Association of California, Inc., Daniel C. Faller, Jasbir Dhillon, Gary Gillman, Anita Haeggstrom, Frederick H. Leeds, individually and as trustee for the Frederick H. Leeds Intervivos Trust Dated November 30, 1990, Malcolm Bennett, and 7005 L.P. are a group of property owners and tenants who were required to pay for and use waste hauling services under the recycLA system. They sued the City, arguing that the franchise fees imposed under the program were effectively a “tax” imposed on them without voter approval in violation of Proposition 218.