(530) 432-7357
mcolantuono@chwlaw.us
Michael has specialized in municipal law since 1989. He is certified by the California State Bar as a Specialist in Appellate Law and is a Past President of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, an association of about 125 of the most distinguished appellate lawyers in California. He is an Elected Member of the American Law Institute, the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. He has argued 14 cases in the California Supreme Court, appeared in all six of the California District Courts of Appeal, as well as trial courts around the State and he has argued in the 9th Circuit. He serves on the California Judicial Council’s Appellate Advisory Committee and served on its Appellate Caseflow Working Group.
Michael has expertise in a broad range of areas of concern to local governments in California, including constitutional law, land use regulation, open meetings, elections, municipal litigation, conflicts of interest, public utilities, LAFCO issues, inverse condemnation, cannabis regulation, and a wide range of public finance issues involving taxes, assessments, fees and charges.
Michael is perhaps California’s leading expert on the law of local government revenues, briefing 18 cases on that subject in the California Supreme Court since 2004. The Daily Journal named him a California Lawyer of the Year in inverse condemnation law for his win in City of Oroville v. Superior Court (2019) 7 Cal.5th 1091, government’s first win in that court in this subject area in decades. California Chief Justice Ronald M. George presented him with the 2010 Public Lawyer of the Year Award on behalf of the California State Bar. Two successive Speakers of the California Assembly appointed him to the Board of Trustees of the California Bar, the state agency which regulates the practice of law in California. His fellow Trustees elected him Treasurer and President of the Bar and the California Supreme Court appointed him as Chair of its Board of Trustees.
Michael currently serves as General Counsel for the Calaveras County LAFCO, the Oak Tree Park and Recreation District, the Peardale-Chicago Park, Higgins, Ophir Hill, and Penn Valley Fire Districts and the Eden Township Healthcare District. He previously served as City Attorney of Auburn (2005–2019), Barstow (1997–2004), Calabasas (2003–2012), Cudahy (1994–1999), Grass Valley (2011–2026), La Habra Heights (1994–2004), Monrovia (1999–2002), and Sierra Madre (2004–2006), as General Counsel to the Auburn (2005–2019), Barstow (1997–2004), Grass Valley (2011–2015) and Sierra Madre (2004–2006) Redevelopment Agencies, and as General Counsel of the Big Bear City Community Services District (1994–2001) and the Camarillo Healthcare District.
Michael assisted the Legislative Analyst’s Office in the impartial analysis of Proposition 218 and co-chaired the committee which drafted what became the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act of 1997. He also chaired the committees which drafted the League of California Cities’ Prop. 26 and 218 Implementation Guide.
Michael was elected by his peers to serve as President of the City Attorneys’ Department of the League of California Cities in 2003–2004. He served on Cal Cities’ Board of Directors in 2022 and 2023.
Michael was appointed by the Rules Committee of the California State Assembly to the Commission on Local Governance in the 21st Century. The Commission was formed to study the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act, and the bulk of its recommendations became law. Michael was deeply involved in drafting both the committee report and the statute.
Michael graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University (BA 1983) and received his law degree from University of California, Berkeley School of Law (JD 1988), graduating first in his class. While in law school, he was an Articles Editor of the California Law Review and became a member of the Order of the Coif upon graduation. Michael was law clerk to the Honorable James R. Browning, Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in 1988–1989.
He taught Administrative Law as an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1995 and is a frequent speaker and trainer on a wide range of public law topics.
Michael comments on local government and municipal finance topics on LinkedIn (Michael Colantuono).
Practice Areas:
- Appellate Advocacy
- Complex Litigation
- Conflicts of Interest
- Constitutional Law
- Election Law
- Inverse Condemnation
- Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) Law
- Land Use, Planning and CEQA
- Municipal Revenues (Taxes, Assessments, Fees and Charges)
- Public Law
- Public Safety Defense Litigation
- Public Utilities
Testified at trial
State Bar v. Joseph Dunn – I testified before a State Bar Court Judge in a disbarment proceeding in 2024.
Joseph Dunn v. State Bar of California – I testified before the arbitrator in an employment law dispute as a percipient witness in 2017
Expert on the standard of care in a professional malpractice case between a City and its former counsel arising from a disputed solid waste franchise – Los Angeles Superior Court – my records do not include the case details, but I believe this was in 2012 or so
Testified at deposition
BMR – Summers Ridge LP v. H. G. Fenton Co., San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2022-00005238 (2025) – I testified as an expert on the practices of those in commercial real estate market in California as to the use of CC&Rs to limit uses and the relationship of such limits to land use entitlements. Trial testimony is scheduled for late February 2026.
Assemi Brothers, LLC, det al. v. Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, LLC, Fresno Superior Court Case No. 19CECG03249 (2024) — I testified as an expert on land use and CEQA practices and standards in a contract and unfair competition dispute between pistachio processors.
City of Coachella v. Jimmy L. Gutierrez, Riverside Superior Court Case No. 076601 (2008) – I testified and provided a declaration for summary judgment on the standard of care for defense of a professional errors and omissions case between a city and its former city attorney.
RiverPark Development, LLC v. City of Oxnard (2002–2003) – I testified as both an expert and as a percipient witness in a dispute involving land use entitlements I assisted Oxnard in issuing. I was deposed twice in related cases.
Testimony by declaration
Pinheiro v. Children’s Crisis Center of Stanislaus County, Inc., Stanislaus County Superior Court Case No. CV-23-007400 (2025) – expert for plaintiff in trip-and-fall re understanding of municipal officials as to power of a general law city to adopt an ordinance assigning responsibility and liability for sidewalk maintenance to adjacent landowners
City of San Diego v. SCI Consulting Group, San Diego Superior Court Case No. 30-2012-00606685 (2012) – expert for City on standard of care of an assessment engineer in a professional errors and omissions case
Browning v. City of San Diego, San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2012-00094831 (2012) – attorney fee motion
Old Topanga Homeowners v. City of Calabasas, LA Superior Court Case No. SS020240 (2010) – attorney fee motion
San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District v. Contra Costa County Employees’ Retirement Association, Contra Costa Superior Court Case No. N03-0938 (2003) – attorney fee motion
Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District v. Steven Weir, et al., Contra Costa Superior Court Case No. NO2-1326 (2002) – attorney fee motion
Carmel Valley Fire Protection District v. All Persons, Monterey Superior Court Case No. M52734 (2001) – attorney fee motion
Non-testifying expert
Friant Water Authority, et al. v. Eastern Rule Groundwater Sustainability Agency, Tulare Superior Court Case No. VCU306343 (2025) – I was retained to testify for the plaintiff joint powers agency as to the practices and procedures of California local governments in enforcing the duty to pay water supply charges imposed on groundwater producers.
Holly Takas v. City of California City, Kern Superior Court Case No. BCV-19-101351 (2023) – I was retained to testify for the City as to the responsibilities of the City and landowners as to fugitive dust from unpermitted grading that led to a fatal traffic accident.
Hall Vineland, LLC v. City of St. Helena, Napa Superior Court Case No. 19 CV 000897 (2020–2021) – I was retained to testify for the City as to the practices of water utilities as to will-serve letters in a case that settled before I was deposed.
Support for Ventura County District Attorney’s investigation of criminal conflict of interest allegations against the former contract general counsel of the Camarillo Healthcare District for excessive billing approved by the former executive director with whom he was engaged in an undisclosed romantic affair – no charges were ultimately filed (2017).
La Jolla Benefits Association v. City of San Diego, San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2016-00045595 (2016) – I was retained to provide substantive expertise in a land use and inverse condemnation dispute.
Old Town Academy v. Harris, San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2016-0027892 (2016) – I was retained to assist the defense of a dispute between competing boards of directors of a non-profit that operated a charter school, opining on public law issues.
Border Business Park, Inc. v. City of San Diego, San Diego Superior Court Case No. 692794 (2014) – I was a member of a large and complex expert team in the remand trial of a land use and inverse condemnation dispute after reversal of a $100 million+ judgment against the City. Originally retained to testify on the Subdivision Map Act, my role grew to cover a range of public law issues.
City of Marina v. Fort Ort Reuse Authority, Monterey Superior Court Case No. M118566 (2014) – FORA retained me to opine on its authority to impose development impact fees.
Sacramento Housing Alliance v. City of Folsom, Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2011-800000833 (2011) – I provided expert support on housing and land use laws to the defense.
City of Placentia v. Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart, APC, Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2010-00367949 (2010) – standard of care in a professional errors and omissions case which settled before my deposition.
Cynthia Garrison-Arce v. Eagle Park Charter School, San Diego Superior Court (2009) – I was retained to testify as to open meeting, conflict of interest, and other laws applicable to charter schools in a dispute with former employees and boardmembers.
Mission Valley Rock Co. v. County of Alameda, Alameda Superior Court (2003) – I was retained to assist the plaintiffs in a dispute over a land use initiative which reduced claimed vested rights to operate a quarry.