HUNTINGTON BEACH Central Library (Flickr/cclark395).
By a staff writer
The City of Huntington Beach has been ordered to pay nearly $1 million in attorney’s bills after losing a legal battle over its efforts to restrict access to some books in its library system.
In an Orange County Superior Court ruling on April 27 by Judge Lindsey E. Martinez, Surf City is now required to pay $959,853.73 in expenses to a variety of plaintiffs who sued the city over its 2023 decision to separate some books on puberty, sexuality and related issues from access to minors, claiming they were “pornographic.”
That amount was reduced from an original cost of $1.5 million.
The judge ruled that the action by the city violated state law. Opponents of the city’s action claimed that despite legal setbacks, the city has yet to return the relocated books or the signs indicating which books have been moved.
The ruling is the latest setback in the city’s battles with the State of California. The city attorney’s office – and in other cases such as voter ID and land use – has contended, without success, that Huntington Beach’s status as a charter city allows it to defy some state laws.
