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City Attorney's Annual Report
Fiscal Year 2014-15
The City Attorney's Office plays an integral but often behind the scenes role in our city government.
Every year since the beginning of this century, we have published an Annual Report to show residents, businesses and taxpayers the services we provide on their behalf.
This report includes litigation trends and financial results for the Fiscal Year 2014-15. It provides details on the work of every unit in the City Attorney's Office, and summarizes special programs and initiatives undertaken during this fiscal year.
Some highlights:
- The amount of money the City paid to settle lawsuits and claims fell by more than 30 percent this year, and payouts related to police matters (civil rights, wrongful death, use of force, etc.) were down by almost 75 percent compared to the previous fiscal year.
- The City Attorney's Office brought in $1.84 million in revenue for residents and taxpayers this year by pursuing affirmative litigation and other actions. That money goes into the City's general fund to pay for essential services such as libraries, police, road repair and parks.
- The City Attorney co-sponsored and co-authored a comprehensive government ethics reform law that the City Council unanimously adopted in January 2015.
- The City Attorney's Neighborhood Law Corps unit filed lawsuits against owners of the Hillside Apartments, the West Grand Hotel, the Empyrean Hotel and other residential properties where tenants have been subjected to substandard or dangerous living conditions.
- The City Attorney and other City departments continued their crackdown on illegal dumping this year, which has resulted in dozens of citations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for people caught dumping their unwanted furniture, mattresses, trash and debris on Oakland streets.
Read the full report
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Updates on Major Cases
Joe Hemp's First Hemp Bank and Distribution Network v. City of Oakland No. C 15-05053 WHA
The plaintiff, Joe Hemp's First Hemp Bank and Distribution Network, was a medical cannabis dispensary operating without a permit in Oakland. Several years ago the City informed the business that it had to either apply for a permit and pay related fees or shut down. The business declined and continued to operate; the City ultimately assessed civil penalties and ordered the business to vacate its premises.
Plaintiffs sued the City in 2015. The lawsuit challenged the City's right to issue permits to any marijuana-related businesses because those businesses are still illegal under federal law. The plaintiffs also made the creative legal argument that Joe Hemp's First Hemp Bank and Distribution Network was exempt from the Federal Controlled Substances Act because the business was nothing more than a warehouse, despite the fact that the business sold medical cannabis and called itself a "Distribution Network."
The Court did not buy the plaintiffs' arguments.
"Plaintiffs' whole arrangement is a sham," Judge William Alsup wrote in his February 1 order. "Their customers are called 'members.' They go to the front desk, pay a 'service fee,' and get their regular dose of marijuana. The substance of this transaction is nothing more than a sale, which would place plaintiffs' business squarely outside the protection of the warehouseman exemption and plainly in violation of federal law."
Even if the business was an actual warehouse, instead of an unlicensed dispensary, "nothing in the Controlled Substances Act precludes the City from regulating and taxing medical marijuana businesses," Judge Alsup wrote.
This is an excellent decision for the City and for patients who rely on medical cannabis in Oakland. The federal government continues to pursue lawsuits against medical cannabis dispensaries based on federal law, but the City has a responsibility to license and regulate medical cannabis businesses and to make sure they are meeting strict public health and safety standards. I am very pleased that the Court upheld the City's authority to issue permits under our licensing and regulation scheme, which allows us to fulfill this responsibility.
Ray v. Leal D.C. No. 4:11-cv-05550-YGR
The federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the City in this case involving allegations that police used excessive force in the course of arresting a convenience store robber after a high speed chase.
Plaintiff Edward Ray, Jr. has been in prison for 10 years after convictions for numerous convenience store robberies throughout the East Bay. In 2006 Oakland police arrested Mr. Ray and his son, who also was involved in the convenience store robberies, after a car chase in East Oakland. Oakland officers hit and blocked Mr. Ray's car to stop him, and used a Taser when Mr. Ray resisted arrest.
In 2011, Mr. Ray filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of Oakland and three Oakland police officers alleging they used excessive force during his arrest. The Court granted the City's motion for summary judgment arguing that Mr. Ray's claim was untimely because it was filed five years after the incident.
Mr. Ray appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015. On January 28, the Appeals Court affirmed the order dismissing Mr. Ray's case against the City and the three officers.
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Wells Fargo Agrees to Pay $1.2 Billion in Mortgage Fraud Case
In February, Wells Fargo announced that it will pay $1.2 billion to settle a federal government lawsuit accusing the bank of shady lending practices and mortgage fraud.
It is gratifying that the U.S. Attorney plaintiffs are holding Wells Fargo accountable for its misconduct in the origination and underwriting of mortgages issued under a program by the Federal Housing Administration. According to the government, the San Francisco-based bank's actions led to thousands of defaults of federally-insured loans and hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance payouts.
However, it's important to remember that the bank's fraudulent practices related to FHA loans are just the tip of the iceberg. Wells Fargo also must answer for widespread predatory, dishonest and abusive lending practices that made the bank billions of dollars while putting untold numbers of Americans on the street.
For example, this month a U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco certified a class action against Wells Fargo by homeowners accusing the bank of refusing to modify mortgages and steering its customers towards foreclosure.
And in September, I filed a federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo to recover damages caused by the bank's predatory and discriminatory lending practices here in Oakland.
Our lawsuit on behalf of the City of Oakland asks the court to hold Wells Fargo accountable for targeting African American and Hispanic borrowers, including minority churches and congregations, for predatory mortgage loans in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act.
Evidence shows that Wells Fargo issued more expensive and higher risk loans to African American and Hispanic borrowers despite the fact that they qualified for more favorable loans that the bank regularly issued to white borrowers.
The bank's discriminatory conduct devastated individuals and communities, increasing poverty and wiping out or drastically reducing wealth for minority communities while bankers prospered.
Oakland's lawsuit is ongoing. We are seeking damages that the City of Oakland suffered in terms of lower property tax revenue, police costs and other expenses related to addressing the blight and other nuisance activities associated with these foreclosed properties. We would very much appreciate it if the bank will agree to make amends for the damage caused by its discriminatory actions in Oakland and other cities as it has for its fraudulent practices related to FHA loans.
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