Deborah J. Fox

Los Angeles

Constitutional, Government & Land Use Litigation

Deborah J. Fox chairs Meyers Nave's First Amendment and trial and litigation practice groups and its crisis management team. She is particularly known for handling sensitive political issues that draw media and public attention.

"I don't think I do ordinary litigation," she said.

One busy practice area for her over the last few years is defending local government groups charged with implementing the state's allocations of new affordable housing, known as Regional Housing Needs Allocations.

"With the crisis that we're facing in housing and housing stock and homelessness, that's an issue of major proportions," she said.

Last year, Fox won an important appellate ruling declaring that the housing allocation process is immune from judicial review. City of Coronado v. San Diego Association of Governments, 80 Cal.App.5th 21 (Cal. App. 4th Dist., June 20, 2022).

In July, she fortified that win with a decision in a case brought by Orange County municipal governments and several cities challenging their housing allocations. Fox represented the Southern California Association of Governments as the real party in interest. Orange County Council of Governments v. Velasquez, B317856 (Cal. App. Dist. 2, dec'd July 27, 2023).

Now, Huntington Beach has taken a new tack in a federal lawsuit attacking the state's "unbridled power play to control all aspects of ... land use decisions." It claims the state is violating the city's Free Speech rights by compelling what it must say to its citizens about housing needs. Fox is again representing the Southern California association. City of Huntington Beach v. Newsom, 8:23-cv-00421 (C.D. Cal., filed March 9, 2023).

"It's a real battle here as more statutes have been adopted giving more control to the state over land use," she said. "The attacks to date have been unsuccessful. So I think now that's why Huntington Beach is looking to approach this from a new angle."

In another case, Fox is handling that is very much out of the ordinary, she is defending Santa Barbara County in a lawsuit filed by Southern California Edison. It seeks indemnification for the damages the utility had to pay homeowners and insurers following the Thomas fire and mudslides. Thomas Fire and Debris Flow Cases, JCCP4965 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 30, 2018).

Although Edison wants to be indemnified for the millions in settlements it paid, it is "hiding behind the mediation privilege" and refusing to turn over documents supporting the amount it seeks or even the foundational issue of whether the settlements were reasonable, Fox said.

For that reason, she has filed a motion in limine to preclude Edison's $647 million demand for homeowner settlements. "Then there's a separate bucket for the insurance company settlements, which are about ... $450 to $750 million," she said. "Give or take a couple hundred million."

A judge has scheduled a fifth hearing on the issue for Sept. 8.

-- Don DeBenedictis