A hearing in Imperial County Superior Court resulted in the denial of the City of El Centro request for an injunction against Imperial County Local Agency Formation (LAFCO).

The hearing was held Thursday before Judge Jeffrey Jones. The City of El Centro had filed a lawsuit against LAFCO seeking to prevent it from processing an application by Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District (PMHD) to expand the district to include all of Imperial County. As part of the lawsuit, El Centro asked for a preliminary injunction to stop the PMHD application from moving forward. The City alleged that LAFCO had violated CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. LAFCO denied that there was any violation. Judge Jones denied the El Centro request for an injunction ruling that there was no evidence or legal basis for injunctive relief. According to LAFCO CEO Jurg Heuberger, the agency will continue to process the PMHD application while the case is pending.