Resource: Class Action Lawsuit Challenges California Cities' For-Profit Prosecution Scheme

There is a new sheriff in town in Indio, California and he’s coming after residents who find themselves caught in the city’s outrageous new code enforcement law.

That sheriff is a private, for-profit law firm called Silver and Wright, which was hired by Indio in 2014 to serve as the city’s official prosecutor for code enforcement cases.1 The firm’s pitch was appealing. It offered “cost neutral or even revenue producing”2 prosecution services, so long as the city changed its ordinances to allow the firm to bill property owners for its full attorneys fees.3