COUNCIL AGENDA: 8/19 /2025
FILE:
ITEM:
25-921
2.17 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR
AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Nora Frimann
City Attorney
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: August 15, 2025
SUBJECT: AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN CU LTURE OF LIFE FAMILY SERVICES V.
BONTA – LOCAL ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Attorney to join in an Amicus Curiae brief being drafted by the Public Rights Project on behalf of local governments (cities and counties) in support of appellee/defendant Attorney General Bonta’s Motion to Dismiss highlighting the importance of local enforcement authority for consumer protection and public health, Case No.25 3828 (9th Circuit).
BACKGROUND
The amici curiae in the proposed amicus brief are counties, cities, and local government leaders broadly responsible for protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of their communities. They have a duty to prevent and address health and safety harms, including those that flow from false and misleading statements. Plaintiff in the subject lawsuit filed to prevent the Attorney General from potentially pursuing an action against it. The amicus brief will argue the importance of public entities using unfair competition and false advertising laws to protect their citizenry, and that a claim of selective enforcement should require a showing of a policy, plan or pervasive pattern of enforcing otherwise generally applicable laws solely against religious entities.
ANALYSIS
The plaintiff in the underlying lawsuit now on appeal, Culture of Life Family Services (COLFS) located in San Diego, filed an action to prevent the Attorney General from filing a lawsuit against it based on the fact that the Attorney General had filed a lawsuit in Northern California against an organization providing and advertising a similar claim of reversing the effects of the morning-after pill taken to prevent a pregnancy, claims which the Attorney General determined were unfounded. That action is now on appeal following a trial court decision dismissing the case based on a motion brought by the Attorney General. Amici curiae for this proposed amicus brief are counties, cities, and local government leaders that serve as frontline providers and administrators of public health services and also those that are broadly responsible for protecting the health,
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
August 15, 2025
Subject: Amicus Curiae Brief in Culture of Life Family Services v. Bonta – Reproductive Rights and Local Enforcement Authority
safety, and wellbeing of their communities. Potential amici who may be joining the brief often rely on individuals’ and business entities’ compliance with advertising and consumer-focused laws such as the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), Cal. Bus. & Prof.
Code § 17200, and the False Advertising Law (“FAL”), Cal. Bus.& Prof. Code § 17500 to ensure the safety of individuals residing in their localities. The preemptive lawsuit filed by COLFS challenges the ability of government legal offices to investigate and bring enforcement actions should it be determined that a business or other entity or individual is violating the law and engaging in unfair business practices in violation of the UCL or false advertising practices in violation of the FAL. The City of San Jose is a city with a population size that allows the City to enforce UCL and FAL violations by enjoining unlawful practices and seeking monetary penalties for violations.
The proposed brief may also provide information to the Court about the appropriate legal standard to be applied in cases in which selective enforcement is being alleged. The brief will encourage the Court to find that a challenge to enforcement must require a prima facie showing of selective enforcement—nam ely, to require plaintiffs to show a policy, plan, or pervasive pattern of enforcing an otherwise generally applicable law against specific entities.
The brief is being drafted by the Public Rights Project and the Bradley Bernstein Sands law firm. The City would be joining the brief as a public entity entitled under state law to bring legal action to enforce state laws involving unfair business practices. The deadline to join the brief is August 20
th.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
This memorandum will be posted on the City’s website as part of the August 19, 2025 City Council Agenda.
CEQA
Not a Project, File No. PP17-010, City Organizational and Administrative Activities resulting in no changes to the physical environment.
NORA FRIMANN
City Attorney
By /s/
NORA FRIMANN
City Attorney
For questions, please contact Nora Frimann, City Attorney, at (408) 535-1900.