The State of California is not a proper defendant in a suit challenging the constitutionality of a state statute. Instead, the proper defendant is the agency with a direct institutional interest in defending the constitutionality of the law. Hence, the trial court properly granted the State of California judgment on the pleadings in this suit challenging the non-waivable $150 jury fee in civil cases. The proper defendant would have been the Judicial Council which oversees distribution of those jury fees
California Court of Appeal, First District, Division 3 (McGuiness, Acting P.J., sitting by assignment); May 18, 2018 (published June 18, 2018); 2018 WL 2252628