procedural posture

Procedural Posture

Defendant district attorney appealed the order of the Superior Court of Santa Barbara County (California), which denied defendant's motion to dissolve the permanent injunction that prohibited him from enforcing Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17564 pertaining to outside advertising against plaintiff hotels.

Overview

Plaintiff hotels filed an action to enjoin defendant district attorney from enforcing against them the provisions of Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17564, which prohibited certain room rate advertising. The lower court granted the permanent injunction after determining that § 17564 applied to motels and not hotels, and therefore was an invalid exercise of police power and violated the Equal Protection Clause, U.S. Const. amend. XIV. The court affirmed the injunction, noting that it must defer to the lower court's discretion in determining that an injunction was necessary and holding that the issuance of the Attorney General's opinion was not a change in circumstance sufficient to justify the dissolution of the injunction. The court looked to the plain meaning of the applicable Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code statutes and determined that hotels did not fall within the classification of § 17564. Consequently, the legislature was discriminating against motels by limiting their ability to advertise when they were similarly situated to hotels. Accordingly, the statute was held to be unconstitutional. <ahref "https://california-business-lawyer-corporate-lawyer.com/california-laws/wic-5150-detention-of-mentally-disordered-persons-for-evaluation-and-treatment" /> Welfare and institutions code 5150 is hen a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, a peace officer, professional person in charge of a facility designated by the county for evaluation and treatment, member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of a facility

Outcome

The court affirmed the order denying defendant district attorney's motion to dissolve the permanent injunction, holding that, because the statute prohibiting room rate outside advertising by motels differentiated between hotel and motel advertisement in an unreasonable manner, it violated the Equal Protection Clause and was, therefore, not enforceable.
Welfare and institutions code 5150