Santa Clara v. State of California (Cal. 2009): EJS joined over 15 other non-profit organizations interested in furthering public environmental health, racial justice, and children’s rights in California, including Healthy Children Organizing Project, Public Advocates, and Western Center on Law and Poverty, and signed on to an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court in support of Santa Clara County.
Amici’s brief emphasized the need for an effective response to the epidemic of lead poisoning that afflicts California, especially its most vulnerable citizens, and argued that litigation was necessary to protect public health. The brief asserted that local governments should be allowed to associate counsel on a contingency fee basis in such cases.