Ponderosa Homes, Inc. v. City of San Ramon

• Decision Date: 08 April 1994
• Docket Number: No. A060955,A060955
• Citation: 23 Cal.App.4th 1761,29 Cal.Rptr.2d 26
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: PONDEROSA HOMES, INC., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF SAN RAMON et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Page 26

29 Cal.Rptr.2d 26

23 Cal.App.4th 1761

PONDEROSA HOMES, INC., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF SAN RAMON et al., Defendants and Respondents.

No. A060955.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 3, California.

April 8, 1994.

Byron Athan, City Atty., City of San Ramon, San Ramon, Allan R. Saxe, Matteoni, Saxe & Nanda, San Jose, for respondents.

MERRILL, Associate Justice.

Ponderosa Homes, Inc. (Ponderosa), appeals from a judgment in favor of respondents, the City of San Ramon (the City) and the San Ramon City Council (the City Council), entered upon the granting of respondents' motion for judgment on the pleadings. The issues raised on the motion and on this appeal are the date upon which the applicable statute of limitations commenced running, and which statute of limitations is applicable to each cause of action. Ponderosa contends that no statute of limitations had run, and therefore the trial court erred in granting the motion for judgment on the pleadings. We disagree and therefore affirm the judgment.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from the pleadings and the stipulation of agreed facts submitted by the parties.

On April 26, 1988, the City Council granted Ponderosa tentative subdivision map approval for a 452-unit residential development. In connection with this tentative subdivision map approval, the City imposed a number of conditions. As relevant to this case, these conditions included (1) a requirement that Ponderosa improve and widen Dougherty Road, with City reimbursement through "Traffic Mitigation Fee" credits for up to $584,000 in costs associated with upgrading the road to "modern arterial standards"; and (2) a requirement that Ponderosa pay, among other fees, a traffic mitigation fee of $3,200 per residential unit "upon submittal of plans or issuance of permits."

At the time it approved Ponderosa's tentative subdivision map, the City had a dual traffic mitigation fee which required payment of $3,200 per unit for projects such as Ponderosa's, located in the Dougherty and Tassajara Valleys, but only $1,500 per unit for projects elsewhere in the City. On July 26, 1988, The City Council replaced this dual traffic mitigation fee arrangement with a single city-wide fee of $2,177 per unit. Ponderosa did not object to imposition of the $3,200 traffic mitigation fee at the time of the tentative subdivision map approval.

The City Council granted Ponderosa final subdivision map approval for its project in phases. The City approved the first phase on October 26, 1988, for 77 lots; and the second phase on July 31, 1989, for 57 lots. Traffic impact fees attributable to the first two phased final maps in the amounts of $246,400 and $182,400, respectively, were credited against the work required of Ponderosa in upgrading Dougherty Road. These amounts represented payment of the traffic mitigation fee of $3,200 per unit multiplied by the number of units finally approved.

On October 6, 1989, Davidon Five Star Corp. (Davidon), a competing developer of another residential subdivision across the road from Ponderosa's development, filed a petition for writ of mandamus and complaint for declaratory relief in superior court (Davidon Five Star Corp. v. The City of San Ramon et al. (Super.Ct.Contra Costa County, 1989, No. C89-04200)). Davidon's action challenged the City's imposition of the $3,200 fee to its project, asserting that the fee was void as an illegal special tax and violated the due process and takings clauses of the United States and California Constitutions. At the time the City gave tentative subdivision map approval for Davidon's project, the City's traffic mitigation fee in effect was $2,117. Following a ruling by the superior court on October 22, 1990, that the City's imposition of the $3,200 fee on Davidon was unlawful, the parties to that action entered into a settlement agreement and a stipulation for entry of judgment setting the traffic impact fee at $2,117 per residential unit.

On June 25, 1991, the City gave final subdivision map approval to the third phase of Ponderosa's project, consisting of 44 lots. In compliance with the condition imposed at the time of tentative subdivision map approval, Ponderosa paid a traffic impact fee in the total amount of $140,800, based on the formula of $3,200 per unit. For the first time, Ponderosa lodged an objection to payment of the $3,200 traffic mitigation fee. Thereafter Ponderosa paid all further installments of the traffic mitigation fee under protest, in accordance with the provisions of Government Code sections 66020 and 66021. ¹

On December 4, 1991, Ponderosa filed the petition and complaint in this case, challenging the $3,200 per unit traffic mitigation fee, and seeking injunctive relief, a refund of fees paid under protest, and damages for inverse condemnation and alleged violation of its civil rights. Each cause of action in Ponderosa's complaint set forth a different legal theory for challenging the traffic mitigation fee.

The first cause of action sought a declaration that the fee was an illegal tax in excess of the reasonable cost of providing traffic improvements, in violation of both the provisions of the Government Code providing authority to impose special taxes, and article XIII of the California Constitution. The third cause of action alleged that the City's imposition of the $3,200 traffic mitigation fee constituted a taking of property without due process of law and an inverse condemnation without just compensation. ² In the fourth cause of action, Ponderosa alleged deprivation of its civil rights under 42 U.S.C. section 1983. The fifth cause of action sought a refund pursuant to sections 66020 and 66021 of fees paid under protest, alleging that the City had failed to identify the public facilities for which the fee was charged, and had failed to show any relationship between the need for traffic improvements, the amount of the fee, the uses to which it would be put, and the cost of public improvements attributable to Ponderosa's development. Finally, the sixth cause of action sought a writ of mandate or prohibition preventing the imposition of the traffic mitigation fees.

On November 5, 1992, Ponderosa filed a motion for summary adjudication in its favor. The trial court denied Ponderosa's motion on the grounds that it had failed to overcome the City's affirmative defenses based on the running of the statute of limitations as to each cause of action. The court found that the applicable limitation period as to each cause of action commenced on April 26, 1988, upon tentative subdivision map approval; and that Ponderosa had thereafter failed to timely file its petition and complaint.

The City gave Ponderosa written notice of its intent to make an oral motion for judgment on the pleadings. On December 7, 1992, at the outset of trial, the City made a motion for judgment on the pleadings on the grounds that the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth causes of action of Ponderosa's petition and complaint were barred by an applicable statute of limitations. The trial court granted the motion, finding as follows: "It appears both from the verified petition/complaint and from the Stipulation of Agreed Facts submitted to the court that the first, third, fifth and sixth causes of action are barred by the 180 day limitations period of Government Code § 66020 and that the fourth cause of action is barred by the one year limitations period applicable to a civil rights action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In making this determination, the court finds that the applicable limitations period as to each aforementioned cause of action commenced on April 26, 1988, upon tentative subdivision map approval." The trial court entered judgment for the City, and this appeal followed.

II. DISCUSSION

This appeal is from a decision granting a motion for judgment on the pleadings. The motion was granted solely on the basis of the trial court's decision that each of the relevant causes of action in the complaint was barred by a statute of limitations. The trial court did not reach the substantive merits of the controversy between the parties. Thus, the issue before us is limited to the propriety of the trial court's decision with respect to the running of the applicable statute of limitations.

A motion for judgment on the pleadings may be made either prior to trial or at trial, on the same grounds as could be urged by a general demurrer. (Stockton Newspapers, Inc. v. Redevelopment Agency (1985) 171 Cal.App.3d 95, 99, 214 Cal.Rptr. 561; 6 Witkin, Cal.Procedure (3d ed. 1985) Proceedings Without Trial, § 262, pp. 563-564.) Like a demurrer, the motion is confined to the face of the pleading under attack, and the plaintiff's allegations are accepted as true. (Hughes v. Western MacArthur Co. (1987) 192 Cal.App.3d 951, 954-955, 237 Cal.Rptr. 738; April Enterprises, Inc. v. KTTV (1983) 147 Cal.App.3d 805, 815, 825, 195 Cal.Rptr. 421; Baillargeon v. Department of Water & Power (1977) 69 Cal.App.3d 670, 675-676, 138 Cal.Rptr. 338; 6 Witkin, Cal.Procedure, Proceedings Without Trial, supra, § 263, pp. 564-565.) The standard of review is the same as on a judgment following the sustaining of a demurrer. (April Enterprises, Inc., supra, at pp. 815, 825, 195 Cal.Rptr. 421; Fosgate v. Gonzales (1980) 107 Cal.App.3d 951, 957, 166 Cal.Rptr. 233; Baillargeon, supra, at pp. 675-676, 138 Cal.Rptr. 338.)

When a complaint shows on its face or on the basis of judicially noticeable facts that the cause of action is barred by the applicable statute of limitations, the plaintiff must plead facts which show an excuse, tolling, or some other basis for avoiding the statutory bar. (Grange Debris Box & Wrecking Co. v. Superior Court (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 1349, 1359-1360, 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 515.) In this case, the trial court relied solely on Ponderosa's petition and complaint, together with the statements of undisputed facts...