Two thoughts sprung to my mind when I read this opinion:
(1) What an incredible waste of taxpayer money when a county (here, Santa Cruz County) sues a city (here, the City of Santa Cruz) over whether the city or county is responsible for a public road (here, Capitola Road) that allegedly got undermined by drainage pipes and needed to be repaired. It's a nine-count complaint (!) for $1.2 million in which the County is suing the City for (1) dangerous condition of public property, (2) trespass, (3) nuisance, (4) waste, (5) indemnity and contribution, (6) removal of lateral and “subadjacent” (sic) support, (7) declaratory relief, (8) account stated, and (9) goods and services rendered."
Taxpayers funding lawyers on one side and taxpayers funding on the other side, to be decided by courts funded by taxpayers, including but not limited to the present appeal. The parties can't work this thing out cooperatively? Seriously? Particularly in a lawsuit over a $1.2 million, which is an incredibly small figure in the governmental scheme of things?
(2) What a stupid rule that when a county sues a city, the city's allowed to create its own rule that requires a claim to be initially presented by the country to the city before a lawsuit is filed. Municipal claims rules are likely stupid in their own right -- the claims pretty much always get denied, and it's just another way to make lawsuits against a municipality more difficult and potentially enable a jurisdictional defense even if there's actual liability -- but those rules are especially silly when they apply to claims made by another governmental entity. Who cares if the county just files in court first? It's not like there's a serious concern that there will be too many frivolous intergovernmental lawsuits. Counties should just be able to sue cities if they want. (But should think seriously before doing so -- see Point No. 1.)
Regardless, that's the law.
