I'm not entirely sure why, but I find this case hilarious.
The City of Cerritos (in LA) doesn't want a ton of heavy truck traffic. It's fine with trucks are dropping off stuff to City residents or businesses, but otherwise, it doesn't really want them to drive through the place. Noise, road damage, etc.
So it passes a law back in '74 that says that trucks travelling through the city (as opposed to "in" the city) are restricted to two particular roads. Then, in 2019 and 2020, the City amends the ordinance to remove one of those roads from the list of permissible truck routes.
Which hacks off the City of Norwalk, a neighboring municipality, because Norwalk says that after the change, the trucks started driving through Norwalk instead. So it sues, alleging the Cerritos' statute creates a public nuisance.
The trial court grants Cerritos' demurrer, and the Court of Appeal affirms, holding that Section 3482 of the Civil Code makes cities immune from nuisance liability for any acts done, as here, pursuant to a statute.
The whole thing is funny to me because it's like two little kids arguing about sharing a toy or who has to clean up their room. Just deal with it, dudes. Norwalk: If you don't like truck traffic through your city, pass your own ordinance that limits the stuff to particular routes. Or just recognize that, oh well, there are sometimes going to be trucks driving through your place.
Or, heck, if you want, try to get the Legislature to pass a law that stops cities from doing stuff like this. I'm not sure that running to your parents -- here, filing litigation in front of a court -- is really the most productive way to try to solve this dispute.
But, hey, at least it gets resolved. "Deal with it, Norwalk."
