United States District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers entered a judgment today that denied SPRAWLDEF’s motion for preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order in full.

The judgment was a significant blow to Petitioners Paul Carman, Citizens for East Shore Parks, James Hanson, SPRAWLDEF, Pamela Stello, and Tony Sustak who brought the petition against respondents Mayor Tom Butt, City of Richmond, and Richmond City Council (collectively, “the City”). The petition alleges a violation of California’s Brown Act, Government Code §§ 54950 et seq. arising from approval of a settlement agreement and the resulting judgment in the underlying action, Guidiville Rancheria of Cal. v. United States of Am., Northern District of California Case No. 12-cv1326-YGR (“the Guidiville action”).

The court found that petitioners were unlikely succeed on the merit of their brown act claim.

A motion for a temporary restraining order, filed August 10, 2020, likewise seeking to bar implementation of the Guidiville action pending the Court’s decision on the preliminary injunction. The Court, having carefully reviewed the completed briefing and oral argument on the preliminary injunction, as well as petitioners’ motion for temporary restraining order and the record of the proceedings, and for the reasons stated herein, rules as follows: (1) the motion for preliminary injunction is DENIED for failure to establish a likelihood of success on the merits; (2) the motion for temporary restraining order is DENIED AS MOOT.

The SPRAWLDEF litigation has the objective of invalidating the settlement reached on Point Molate among the City of Richmond, Upstream and the Guidiville Band as well as stopping implementation of the agreement.

This was a major victory for the people of Richmond.

For more information, see https://app.pacerpro.com/cases/7276760.