New Lawsuit Filed Challenging California’s Unconstitutional Fee-Shifting Scheme

SAN DIEGO, CA – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced the filing of new litigation challenging the unilateral fee-shifting provision of California Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.11.

FPC has already been granted an injunction preventing the enforcement of 1021.11 against California State Defendants in its case known as Miller 2.

This new case now seeks to extend that injunction to multiple local municipalities. The Complaint in FPC v. San Diego, along with other case documents, can be viewed at FPCLaw.org.

“Section 1021.11 is an unconstitutional attempt by the State of California to deter citizens and firearms advocacy groups—through a novel, one-way fee-shifting penalty—from accessing the courts to litigate claims over firearms regulations. In [FPC’s first case challenging this provision], this Court enjoined the State from enforcing Section 1021.11.” The Complaint states. “Specifically, the Court held that Section 1021.11 violated the First Amendment; the Supremacy Clause; and noted that it likewise ran afoul of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.

“A state law that threatens its citizens for questioning the legitimacy of its firearms regulations may be familiar to autocratic and tyrannical governments, but not American government.” said Bill Sack, FPC Director of Legal Operations, quoting Judge Roger T. Benitez in the recent Miller 2 Opinion.

“American law counsels vigilance and suspiciousness of laws that thwart judicial scrutiny because the purpose and effect of § 1021.11 is to trench on a citizen’s right of access to the courts and to discourage the peaceful vindication of an enumerated constitutional right.”

Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs.

FPC Law (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s first and largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.