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In what can only be considered good news for opponents of the proposed massive Oak to Ninth development in Oakland, a Superior Court judge has tentatively ruled that a lawsuit filed by the Oak to Ninth Referendum Committee can go forward, at least for now. 

Shortly after Oakland City Council approved the 64-acre development on the estuary just south of Jack London Square, members of the newly-formed referendum committee-which includes such groups as the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, the Coalition Of Advocates For Lake Merritt (CALM), and the Oakland Heritage Alliance-collected more than 25,000 signatures on petitions calling for a voter referendum on the project. 

When City Attorney John Russo invalidated the signatures because the wrong version of the ordinance authorizing the development agreement had been included with the petitions, the referendum committee sued, saying that they included the version that was given to them by city officials. 

With the lawsuit still in its preliminary stages, the city attorney’s office filed a demurrer, “a request made to a court, asking it to dismiss a lawsuit on the grounds that no legal claim is asserted,” according to the Nolo online legal dictionary. 

Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith tentatively denied that request last week, writing that “since the court is called upon in this case to decide whether the alleged technical deficiency in the referendum petition was significant enough to mislead or confuse electors who were asked to sign the petition, the disposition of the matter by demurrer is inappropriate.” 

Smith ruled that she has not yet received enough information to determine which side might be likely to win at trial, noting that “the case is merely at the pleading stage. The Court is not yet in a position to determine whether Petitioner will be able to prove its argument.” 

A hearing on the judge’s tentative ruling was held in court in Oakland on Wednesday, with a final decision expected within days. Two other separate lawsuits against the Oak to Ninth project are also working their way through the preliminary stages.