Former judge fights state’s rental properties lockdown

Former judge Steven C. Bailey faced Attorney General Xavier Becerra at the ballot box in 2018. More recently he's been squaring off against Becerra's deputies in court.

Bailey and San Diego attorney Martha E. Romero represent Mammoth Lakes vacation property owners who sued Becerra, Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Health and Human Services Director Mark Ghaly and other officials over COVID-19 restrictions on Monday. The plaintiffs claim Fifth and 14th Amendment and constitutional commerce clause violations in Abshire v. Newsom, 1:21-at-00074 (E.D. Cal., filed Feb. 1, 2021).

The four individual plaintiffs own and manage vacation rentals, a rental management company and the Mammoth Lakes Business Coalition. The complaint says the group's members have been fined and threatened by public officials based on an ill-defined, arbitrary and ever-changing set of rules.

"Plaintiffs bring this action to seek relief from ongoing arbitrary restrictions imposed and enforced by defendants which violate the fundamental liberties of plaintiffs and the citizens of the State of California and the United States and threaten them with irreparable harm," said the complaint.

"The Coalition is a group of property owners and businesses in the Mammoth Lake area. It organized due to the manner in which the city and county have been enforcing the edicts from the State," Bailey said by email. "The manner of enforcement reached a point where property owners are being prohibited in many cases from making any use of their property."

He added that he and Romero are looking for "other meritorious cases of governmental overreach."

They argue the restrictions may have been understandable at first, but "evidence and analysis available since at least May 2020 establish that the orders and restrictions at issue in this matter cannot be justified as narrowly tailored to protect public health." The complaint seeks to enjoin several state and municipal government orders restricting short-term rentals.

Bailey was an El Dorado County Superior Court judge serving in South Lake Tahoe from 2008 until 2017, when he stepped down to run against Becerra for attorney general. He survived a primary with four main candidates, but then lost to Becerra in the 2018 general election by over three million votes. According to records from the secretary of state's office, Bailey's campaign had $173,806 in debt at the end of 2020.

The Commission on Judicial Performance censured Bailey in 2019 and barred him from holding future judicial office in California. The commission said he improperly used his judicial office while running for attorney general. Other accusations included making inappropriate comments and sending business to a company his son worked for.

Bailey said the charges were politically motivated.

He then opened a law practice in South Lake Tahoe and formed Bailey & Romero. His LinkedIn page lists him as counsel for California Constitutional Rights Foundation and the Election Integrity Project.

The foundation has sued or filed amicus briefs in several cases challenging COVID restrictions and gun laws. The group's website includes links to a suit Bailey and Romero filed against Newsom's COVID restrictions on behalf of several Nevada County restaurants.

Becerra and attorneys for Nevada County filed motions to dismiss the case last month, arguing the plaintiffs have shown no violations of their constitutional rights. Tuck's Restaurant and Bar v. Newsom, 2:20-cv-02256-KJM-CKD (E.D. Cal., filed Nov. 11, 2020).