On Friday, Jan. 22, Judge Shelleyanne W.L. Chang of the Sacramento Superior Court granted the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association’s motion to notice a class of litigants pursuing the overturn of the state’s SRA Fire Fee.
“We now have the judge’s approval of the Class Notice’s contents and the ways it will be publicized,” HJTA wrote in an email Friday. “This is an important step in the class action because, once notice is given and the time has passed for people to opt out, everyone who has not opted out will be a plaintiff in our lawsuit and therefore entitled to a refund if we win.
The official notification process began this week, HJTA added.
In August, the judge issued an order granting HJTA’s motion to establish a class-action suit. Now HJTA can begin to notify property owners of their possible benefit if the litigation is successful.
The court certified the class as“[o]wners of property with habitable structures thereon, whose property has been designated part of the State Responsibility Area, who have paid the fire-prevention fee imposed by disputed ABX1-29, and who completed and timely submitted to [respondent] Cal Fire a Petition for Redetermination disputing the validity of the fee.”