Tentative Ruling: William Harris vs City of Santa Barbara

Case Number

26CV03257

Case Type

Hearing Date / Time

Fri, 10/09/2026 - 10:00

Nature of Proceedings

Motion: Relief

Tentative Ruling

On May 18, 2026, plaintiff William Harris filed his complaint against defendant City of Santa Barbara asserting one cause of action for negligence. On June 5, 2026, plaintiff filed a petition for order relieving petitioner from the provisions of Government Code section 945.4 or otherwise accepting his government claims as timely, which petition was noticed for this hearing on October 9, 2026.

The present status of this case is unclear:

(1)           The court’s minute order from the case management conference on September 18, 2026, states that counsel for plaintiff represented to the court that plaintiff would be filing a request for dismissal without prejudice as to defendant City of Santa Barbara. However, plaintiff’s notice of ruling from the same case management conference states that plaintiff’s petition for relief would be heard on October 9, 2026. Defendant did not appear at the case management conference.

(2)           Plaintiff’s petition for relief was noticed for this hearing on October 9. However, no proof of service of the petition is attached to the petition or appears in the court’s file. Defendant has not made any appearance in this action and there is no evidence before the court that defendant was timely served with the petition.

Counsel are ordered to appear at the hearing of this petition and to provide a status of the action and of the petition for relief. To the extent that the petition is not mooted by the dismissal of this action and proof of service of the petition is filed with the court, the court intends to continue the hearing on the petition for relief to January 8, 2027, at 10:00 a.m., and to reset the case management conference now set for that date to be heard concurrently at 10:00 a.m.