In Tafti v. County of Tulare (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 891, the Court of Appeal for the Fifth Appellate District held that a local enforcement agency violated the due process rights of a property owner when it failed to provide adequate notice of the nature of an administrative appeal hearing, where an administrative law judge recalculated a civil penalty in the amount of $1,148,200, and where the penalty amount stated in the original enforcement order that the owner appealed from was $137,778. The enforcement order’s description of the appeal rights gave the misleading notion that the hearing, if requested, would be limited to the factual issues set forth in the enforcement order; and nothing in the order alerted the owner to the fact that if he requested a hearing, it would reopen the civil penalty issue and allow the administrative judge to determine anew, without any limitation to the amount set forth in the enforcement order, the total assessment of civil penalties.
Continue Reading Property Owner Hit With $137,778 Civil Penalty, Appeals, And (Without Adequate Notice) Ends Up A $1,148,200 Penalty! Court Reverses for Lack of Due Process.