Environmental Law
Envt'l Law News FALL 2020, VOL. 29, NO. 2
Content
- 2019-2020 Environmental Law Section Executive Committee
- 2019-2020 Executive Committee of the Public Law Section
- 2019-2020 Executive Committee of the Real Property Law Section
- 2019-2020 Public Law Journal Editorial Board
- 2020 California Real Property Journal
- Carbon Projects and Working Forest Conservation in California
- Environmental Law News Publications Committee
- Homeless Encampments and Water Quality
- MCLE Self-Study Article Groundwater Recharge Projects: Considerations for Water Managers and Neighboring Landowners
- Message from the Editors-in-Chief
- Message from the Section Chairs
- Protecting Public Services for All Ratepayers: Proposition 218 Process After Plantier
- Table of Contents
- The Pandemic's Impacts on Developers and Contractors May Call for Seldom-Used Relief: An Overview of the Principles of Force Majeure, Impracticability, and Frustration of Purpose
- The California Government Claims Act: a Primer, Application to Real Property and Environmental Law Claims, and Recent California Supreme Court Decisions
The California Government Claims Act: A Primer, Application to Real Property and Environmental Law Claims, and Recent California Supreme Court Decisions
John M. Fujii and Valerie D. Escalante Troesh
John M. Fujii is a Partner at Silver & Wright LLP and head of the firm’s civil litigation defense practice specializing in defending public entities and their employees from federal civil rights lawsuits and state tort actions.*
Valerie D. Escalante Troesh is a Partner at Silver & Wright LLP and one of the firm’s most experienced attorneys in public entity representation, including tort defense, nuisance abatement and receivership actions, and advisory work in code enforcement. Silver & Wright LLP is one of the state’s preeminent law firms specializing in code enforcement and public agency litigation.*
In 1963, the California Legislature enacted a comprehensive set of statutes governing public entity liability and immunity and providing a uniform procedure for asserting such claimsâthe Government Claims Act ("GCA"), sometimes referred to as the "Tort Claims Act," codified at Government Code sections 810 to 996.6. Previously, tort liability of public entities was based on common law, which provided a general rule of governmental immunity until the California Supreme Court abolished this rule in 1961 and prompted enactment of the GCA.1 With over 50 years of amendments and case law interpreting the GCA since its enactment, public law practitioners need an understanding of the contours of the GCA given its importance for litigation against public agencies.