Court Opinion

ID: 9721646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:04:21.731676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:27.899079
License: Public Domain

COLOGNE, Acting P. J.
I concur in the result, and would reverse the judgment of dismissal with leave to answer.
I believe the statute of limitations is clearly spelled out in Public Resources Code section 21167, subdivision (b). I read the section as encompassing the requisites of the statute’s running, i.e., the filing of the notice required in this instance by subdivision (a) of section 21152.
Notice of council action, however, is fundamental to the rights of the parties in actions of this nature (see Friends of Mammoth v. Board of Supervisors (1972) 8 Cal.3d 247, 257 [104 Cal.Rptr. 761, 502 P.2d 1049]). Public Resources Code section 21152, subdivision (c), provides a means of giving constructive notice of the action taken by the council and is an essential element of public participation in the council’s determination. The failure to observe the obligations to be performed should *442not prejudice the interested parties. I believe the failure to post notice should estop the city from raising the statute of limitations or any other defense that proper notice might have cured unless the petitioners had actual notice. In that case, the failure to give constructive notice by posting would not be prejudicial and would have no effect on the running of the statute. The council should be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate there was actual notice and the limitations period had run.