The tentative ruling, published Oct 23 by the San Diego Superior Court, grants the Association for the City of La Jolla’s anti-SLAPP motion. 

A San Diego Superior Court judge has tentatively granted the Association for the City of La Jolla’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) motion against the city of San Diego.

The tentative ruling, posted Oct 23 to the court’s Civil Tentative Rulings page, comes hours before a scheduled Oct 24 hearing on the matter.

A tentative ruling is the proposed ruling of the court; parties who disagree may continue with oral argument during the scheduled hearing.

ACLJ’s anti-SLAPP motion, filed Aug 25, 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; San Diego officials have disagreed, stating that furthering the LAFCO analysis of La Jolla’s potential cityhood “will impose substantial irreparable harm on the city,” with San Diego having to “incur considerable costs as city staff will be forced to expend substantial time and resources analyzing and collecting the necessary information and data.”

San Diego’s “evidentiary objections” to ACLJ’s and LAFCO’s declarations “are overruled,” the tentative ruling states.

“We’re thrilled,” ACLJ President Diane Kane told lajolla.ca after the tentative ruling.

Should the tentative ruling become final court order Oct 24, LAFCO will continue to review the ACLJ application and organize a comprehensive fiscal analysis to determine feasibility; it is not known at this time if San Diego will appeal the decision.