On September 28, 2021, San Diego Unified School District’s board adopted a plan, referred to as the “Vaccination Roadmap” (Roadmap). The Roadmap would require students to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in order to attend in-person classes and participate in extracurricular activities, beginning with the spring semester in January 2022. An organization called Let Them Choose and S.V., a parent, brought a lawsuit against the District to prevent it from implementing the Roadmap. The trial court held that state law preempted the local vaccination requirement. The District appealed, but the court of appeal upheld the trial court’s decision.
Let Them Choose and S.V. filed motions for attorney’s fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5. Section 1021.5 allows parties to obtain attorney’s fees when the litigation enforces an important right affecting the public interest and confers a significant benefit on the general public or a large group of people.
The District argued that the lawsuit did not advance, but rather interfered with, the public interest. The District pointed to the trial court judge’s previous comments that the Roadmap was “necessary and rational” and that the District’s desire to protect its students was “commendable.” The District also argued that the lawsuit was not the reason that the District declined to implement the Roadmap. The District argued that the Roadmap was a tentative proposal subject to change, and that events that were unrelated to the litigation caused the District to cancel its implementation.
The trial court agreed with the District and denied the request for attorney’s fees, concluding that the litigation did not enforce an important public interest. The trial court noted that it would not be appropriate to require the District to pay attorney’s fees because the District had just been trying to protect its students and “did nothing to adversely affect the public interest.” Let Them Choose and S.V. appealed.
The court of appeal reversed the trial court’s decision. The court of appeal stated that the trial court had read the concept of “public interest” too narrowly. The court of appeal noted that while it may be good public health policy to require COVID-19 vaccinations, state law governs school vaccination requirements, and the District had failed to follow the law.
The court of appeal was not convinced by the District’s argument that it chose not to implement the Roadmap for reasons unrelated to the lawsuit. The court of appeal pointed out that the District “never retreated from its assertion in the trial court or on appeal that it was entitled to implement the Roadmap.” The lawsuit enforced an important right affecting the public interest by making it clear that the District was required to follow the state law vaccination requirements.
The court of appeal reversed the trial court’s denial of attorney’s fees and remanded the case to the trial court to determine the appropriate amount of fees.
Let Them Choose v. San Diego Unified School Dist. (2024) 103 Cal.App.5th 953.