Deborah J. Fox

Fox specializes in First Amendment and land use litigation and crisis management as a litigation partner at Meyers Nave. And “crisis” clearly defines the historical era of Covid-19 and the way its impact on highly charged public health decisions has intersected with the law.

She is a principal at the firm, a member of its three-person executive committee and the founder and leader of its trial and litigation practice and its First Amendment practice.Her work over the past year has included precedent-setting wins and published decisions in the defense of counties, cities and public officials in a rapidly developing wave of state and federal court challenges to shelter in place orders, public health orders and reopening plans.

Amid that mix of urgent cases, Fox, representing Los Angeles County, also found time to obtain a $6.6 million verdict in an illegal dumping case in an ecologically sensitive region of the Santa Susana Mountains. To investigate, Fox got creative. “I designed a drone overflight plan to see exactly what the defendant was doing, despite his claims that he was providing an environmental benefit,” she said.

The sum, finalized by the court on May 21, 2020, covered civil penalties, attorney fees and sanctions; there was also permanent injunctive relief barring the illegal transport and dumping of concrete and other construction debris—putting an end to what had been a total of more than 800,000 cubic yards of material hauled by trucks running six days a week for more than 18 months on a narrow canyon road. People of the State of California v. Fishback, PC056481 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed July 6, 2015).

And just before the pandemic arrived, Fox obtained the state Supreme Court’s agreement to hear a significant open meeting law case stemming from a dispute in San Bernardino County over filling a vacant government post. Daly v. Board of Supervisors, S260209 (Ca. S. Ct., rev. granted Feb. 19, 2020).

Then came Covid-19. “It all started a week after the lockdown,” Fox said of the quick succession of claims by organizations and individuals seeking to reverse or exempt themselves from government health restrictions. “In March and April 2020 we started on a rigorous TRO opposition schedule. It was close to Easter, and there was a lot of action. There were emergency appeals—I’d never seen anything like it. By now there have been more rulings on these emergency applications in this one year than in the five years prior.”

Plaintiffs’ attempts to block enforcement of public health orders led to numerous cases. Among them: a December ruling dismissing Fox’s client, the city of Lodi, from a church’s challenge to the governor’s stay at home orders. Cross Culture Christian Center v. Newsom, 20-cv-00832 (E.D. Cal., filed April 22, 2020).

Busy? “It was a crazy whirlwind. Filings seemed always late on Fridays. Work boundaries got very blurred. You start to lose count of hours and cases,” Fox said.

— John Roemer