A Huntington Beach resident has filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming it is breaking California public records laws.
At issue is a settlement agreement between the city and operators of the Huntington Beach Pacific Airshow, who sued the city when the final day of a three-day event it had staged was cancelled due to the 2021 oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach.
The operators had sought compensation for damages due to the cancellation, and Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates announced in a May 9 press conference the two parties had reached a settlement.
Two days later, resident Gina Clayton-Tarvin—who is also vice president of the Ocean View School District and who had run for a seat on the council in 2022—filed a public records request for the settlement, but, according to her lawsuit, she was denied and only received a one-page summary written on City of Huntington Beach stationary.
Huntington Beach is “continuing to violate the law by withholding public records to which [Clayton-Tarvin] is legally entitled,” the lawsuit reads, which was filed on June 7.
It further says the city’s reasoning for withholding the requested settlement agreement in full is “legally and factually erroneous,” and the public records request act and California constitution “require immediate and complete disclosure of the settlement agreement.”
Under the settlement, the city agreed to pay $5 million to the airshow operator—Code Four—and refund fees from last year’s show, in an effort of good faith.
Documents in her lawsuit show emails from city staff that said the full settlement couldn’t be shared because of pending litigation against Amplify—the operator of the pipeline responsible for the spill—as well as due to client/attorney privilege, and “records in which the public interest in maintaining confidentiality outweighs the public interest in disclosing.”
According to Gates, due to those concerns he is legally allowed under state law to only share a summary of the settlement agreement with Clayton-Tarvin.
“In this case, we did release the terms of the agreement that are of importance to the taxpayer,” Gates told The Epoch Times. “Government code is very clear that we’re required to disclose the substance of the settlement, but nowhere in state law does it say the settlement agreement itself.”
Gates said taxpayers have a right to know what their cost or burden is in resolving a dispute, “and we always honor that,” he said.
But he said the city also has the right to protect its own best interest and not disclose things that could “affect or compromise” other pending lawsuits.
But Clayton-Tarvin argued she has never denied a public records request, including those related to legal issues, while serving as a publicly elected official.
“I have never in my tenure as a board member or of the five years I’ve served as president denied a person who has asked for a legal settlement of ours,” she told The Epoch Times.
She said that if the city announced the settlement publicly, then it should be able to show official documentation of such.
“If they come out in public and they say ‘We saved the airshow. We have a settlement,” then the word settlement means settlement,” she said. “I do believe I will prevail in a court of law.”
As the daughter of a commercial pilot whose father also performed in airshows nationwide, Clayton-Tarvin said her lawsuit is only intended to verify the city properly negotiated with the airshow operator when coming to an agreement and didn’t agree to more than necessary.
According to Gates, if Clayton-Tarvin’s lawsuit proceeds, he is confident the city will win.
“She’s completely way off base. When a judge makes a determination I’m pretty confident that given the totality of the circumstances … the judge will say that we made the right decision” to only supply a summary of the settlement, he said.
However, he said if the court rules in her favor, he will gladly hand over the requested documents, which he said don’t show any wrongdoing on the city’s behalf.
