A pair of related cases currently before the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of Riverside County may set a statewide legal precedent regarding the ability of cities to set high penalty fees for code violations.
The city of Cathedral City is appealing a decision by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Manuel Bustamante Jr., which ordered a $5,000 penalty levied by the city against resident Richard Levik for a short-term rental (STR) code violation to be reduced to $750.
David Koslow is a Cathedral City resident who has supported Levik’s legal defense. He graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1974 and worked as an entertainment and constitutional-law attorney until the mid-1980s in Los Angeles. He’s now acting as a citizens’ legal-defense resource here in Coachella Valley and said he’s determined to help valley residents defend themselves against high-cost punishments for seemingly minor offenses of local ordinances or resolutions…