Barratt American Inc. v. Orange County
Published: Jul. 9, 2005 | Result Date: Apr. 8, 2005 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 814037 Bench Decision – $4,500,000
Judge
Court
Orange Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Walter P. McNeill
(McNeill Law Offices)
Defendant
Jeffrey V. Dunn
(Best, Best & Krieger LLP)
Facts
Plaintiff is Barratt American Inc., a national homebuilding company with its primary business in Southern California. Between 1994 and 1999, defendant Orange County collected a revenue surplus of $18.5 million from fees for building permits and plan reviews. Accordingly, the defendant reduced its fees by 28 percent and then five percent to eliminate the surplus by charging fees less than the future costs of providing services and provided an additional $8 million of general fund revenue to subside the permit and plan review services after the surplus was exhausted.
Damages
The plaintiff claimed that it and other builders suffered economic losses during the years in which the defendant was overcharging them on inspection and other fees.
Result
In the first phase of trial, the court found that the defendant had the burden of proving the disposition of the surplus was in compliance with state law. In the second phase, the court ruled that any portion of the $18.5 million that the defendant had spent on reasonable building department services would be credited as having the effect of reducing future fees. In the last phase, the court called on a special master and court expert to determine where the money had gone and concluded the defendant had spent $14 million on reasonable building department services, but that the defendant could not justify the remaining $4.5 million spent in providing building permit and plan review services. Therefore, the court did not award any damages but ruled the defendant should reduce future fees for $4.5 million. Post-trial, the court awarded the plaintiff attorney fees, finding the plaintiff's counsel acted as a private attorney general and that the lawsuit resulted in a substantial benefit to the public. The defendant have appealed the judgment.
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