The Morning Report
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Jan Goldsmith just told me that he decided to drop Mike Aguirre’s foreclosure lawsuits without first consulting the City Council because, under state law, he has jurisdiction to either bring, or drop, such lawsuits without the blessing of city government.
In this post yesterday, I compared the decision to drop the foreclosure lawsuits to Goldsmith’s stated position on Aguirre’s pension litigation. I pointed out that Goldsmith has been careful to say that he would leave the decision whether or not to stick with that litigation up to the City Council.
But a city attorney has direct jurisdiction to file certain civil litigation under California state law, Goldsmith said. That’s similar to a city attorney’s right to file criminal lawsuits without first getting the blessing of the City Council.
“It’s at my discretion, I have direct authority under state legislation for consumer remedy litigation,” Goldsmith said.