Filed 12/30/20 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT LADONNA YUMORI-KAKU et al., H046105, H046696 (Santa Clara County Plaintiffs and Respondents, Super. Ct. No. 17CV319862) v. CITY OF SANTA CLARA, Defendant and Appellant. Five Asian American residents sued the City of Santa Clara (City) contending that at-large elections for the office of city council violated the California Voting Rights Act of 2001. The trial court agreed after a bench trial that occurrences of racially polarized voting impaired the ability of Asian American voters, as a result of vote dilution, to elect their preferred candidates to Santa Clara’s seven-member city council. It ordered the City to implement district-based city council elections and awarded attorney fees and costs to plaintiffs totaling more than $3 million. On appeal, the City challenges the trial court’s liability finding and the resulting award of attorney fees and costs. The City contends that the trial court erred as a matter of law in concluding that racially polarized voting in five of 10 city council elections satisfied the standard for a cognizable voting rights claim, which requires a showing that the majority voting bloc in Santa Clara’s electorate “usually” voted to defeat the candidate preferred by Asian American voters. The City also challenges the trial court’s use of statistical evidence to support its findings of racially polarized voting. The City argues that the trial court’s imposition of “race-based districts” based on legally inadequate findings of racially polarized voting violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and the City’s plenary authority as a charter city under the California Constitution to control the manner and method of electing its officers. We find no reversible error in the trial court’s interpretation of the governing legal principles and its application of the law to the evidence presented at trial. I. BACKGROUND A. Overview of Legal Framework on Racially Polarized Voting This case concerns enforcement of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (Elec. Code, §§ 14025-14032, hereafter “the Act”)1 and the interpretation of federal voting rights law upon which the Act was in part modeled. The Act provides a private right of action for members of a protected class to challenge at-large election methods in their political subdivision. Section 14027 states that “[a]n at-large method of election may not be imposed or applied in a manner that impairs the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election, as a result of the dilution or the abridgment of the rights of voters who are members of a protected class, as defined pursuant to Section 14026.” To prove a section 14027 violation, the protected class must prove that the challenged voting method impairs its ability to elect preferred candidates or influence election outcomes because of the dilution or abridgment of its voting rights. (§ 14027.) A plaintiff must show racially polarized voting to prove a violation of section 14027. ...
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