The August motion asked the court to dismiss a June lawsuit claiming costly action, brought by San Diego against a county office.

A hearing in San Diego Superior Court on the Association for the City of La Jolla’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) motion against the city of San Diego has been moved up to Friday, Oct 24.

The motion, filed Aug 25, was originally scheduled for April but moved up after an ex parte hearing in late September, according to ACLJ President Diane Kane.

The anti-SLAPP motion alleges the city filed a June 13 lawsuit “for one reason and one reason only: to squelch the First Amendment rights of the [ACLJ] and the thousands of La Jolla residents who signed [a] petition to pursue the possibility of creating a new city.”

That June lawsuit, brought against the San Diego County Local Agency Formation Commission, the office responsible for investigating a proposed La Jolla incorporation, claims LAFCO certified an ACLJ petition improperly as part of ACLJ’s application process for detachment.

ACLJ believes a city of La Jolla is viable and would be financially beneficial to San Diego and the larger region; the next steps are for LAFCO to review the ACLJ application and organize a comprehensive fiscal analysis to determine feasibility.

“To be clear, there are no grounds for the city’s legal action,” Kane said in a statement to lajolla.ca. “Pursuit of a meritless lawsuit is a waste of taxpayer dollars, while continued legal bickering constitutes harassment.”

Should ACLJ prevail at the Oct 24 hearing, the city will be required to reimburse ACLJ’s legal fees, Kane said.

The lawsuit abridges “petition signers’ constitutional rights of free speech at the expense of San Diego residents who are paying the legal tab,” Kane added.

ACLJ is urging “the wider community … to send a hearty message to our city leaders: drop the lawsuit and allow democracy to prevail.”