LOS ANGELES V. CHEROKEE
Vehicle Code Sec. 21, which allows a city or county to adopt an ordinance establishing a pilot program to implement procedures for declaring a motor vehicle to be a public nuisance when used in commission of certain crimes and for removing the vehicle--excluding forfeiture--and which generally prohibits local regulation of "matters covered" by code, expressly preempted city ordinance authorizing the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles used to solicit prostitution. Trial court's award of attorney fees to individual who challenged ordinance was proper because challenge served public interest by forcing city to abandon ordinance and comply with state law, trial court's opinion was ultimately validated by supreme court, ruling affected a large class of persons, and financial burdens of litigation outweighed individual's personal financial interest in challenging ordinance. Individual was not entitled to additional award of fees under Code of Civil Procedure Sec. 1021.5 where he was not initial prevailing party and only later became a prevailing party because other individual's successful appeal to supreme court provided positive precedent.
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