No Damages For Violating Right to Petition

In MHC Financing Limited Partnership Two v. City of Santee (here), the Court of Appeal has held that compensatory damages are unavailable for a violation of Article I, Section 3(a), which grants the “right to petition.” This holding is neither novel nor surprising. The California Supreme Court had already held in Katzberg v. Regents of the University of California, 29 Cal. 4th 300 (2002), that damages are not available for a violation of the California Constitution’s due process clause, and similarly held in Degrassi v. Cook, 29 Cal. 4th 333 (2002), that damages are not available for a violation of the California Constitution’s free speech provision. The MHC decision arises in a unique factual setting (the city council had enacted the wrong initiative), and comports with existing precedent. It therefore is an unlikely candidate for California Supreme Court review.