Woodland Hills Residents Ass'n v. City Council of Los Angeles

Opinion

TOBRINER, J.

In Serrano v. Priest (1977) 20 Cal.3d 25 [141 Cal.Rptr. 315, 569 P.2d 1303] (Serrano III), we concluded that California courts, exercising their inherent equitable authority, may award attorney fees *925under a “private attorney general” rationale to litigants who successfully pursue “public interest” litigation vindicating important constitutional rights. In that decision, we expressly left open the related question “whether courts may award attorneys fees under the ‘private attorney general’ theory, where the litigation at hand has vindicated a public policy having a…