Posted on 09/22/2009 3:58:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A South Bay lawyer wasn't acting as a Peeping Tom or a member of the paparazzi when he hired an investigator to stake out a Morgan Hill official in an unsuccessful search for evidence of a suspected romantic affair, a state appeals court says.
Instead, attorney Bruce Tichinin was exercising a citizen's right to look into possible government wrongdoing, and can sue the city of Morgan Hill for allegedly retaliating against him by denouncing his actions, the appellate panel in San Jose said Monday.
Tichinin's lawyer said the ruling by the Sixth District Court of Appeal should be good news for anyone, including the media, who is trying to find out what public officials are up to.
"You're (constitutionally) protected when you lawfully gather evidence," said attorney Steven Fink. "You can fight city hall sometimes."
Morgan Hill City Attorney Danny Wan said Tuesday that local officials should be concerned when a court extends constitutional protection to "spying on city employees based on just rumors." He said the city hasn't decided whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Tichinin represented a developer who wanted to build housing in Morgan Hill. According to Tichinin's lawsuit, then-City Attorney Helene Leichter supported the project at first, but turned against it after City Manager J. Edward Tewes expressed opposition. The city rejected the plan in 2004.
Tichinin said he suspected Tewes was improperly influencing Leichter. With the developer's approval, he hired a private investigator to look into rumors that had been circulating in the city since 2002 that Tewes and Leichter were having an affair, the court said.
What followed, by the court's description, was a bizarre sequence at a hotel in Huntington Beach, where Brian Carey, an employee of the investigator, reserved a room in February 2004 to keep an eye on Tewes.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
My home town made Free Republic. Yeah!
Ditto that!
Looks like we made the big time.
I passed through Morgan’s Hill once when I was fleeing the smell in Gilroy...
That is Garlic. I love the aroma in the morning.
Some people don’t like it.
I have otrher friends who like the smell of fruit canning, I can’t stand it.
I grow 8 different varieties of Garlic here on the shores of Humboldt Bay and I remember driving over the Pacheco pass and down into that delightful aroma in the 60s and 70s...
God it is great to post with someone from the left coast.
Yeah, though I walk through Valley of Silicon, I will hear no evil...
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