BREAKING NEWS

Orange County Republican lawyer Mike Schroeder has refiled a lawsuit against Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook in a Sacramento court, following an appeals court ruling that struck down his original suit. Schroeder said Thursday that he is once again challenging Cook’s use of the title of mayor in her ballot description as a congressional candidate, also suing the California secretary of state for approving her use of the title.

An appeals court threw out the previous suit against Cook and the county registrar of voters Wednesday, also requiring plaintiff Keith Carlson, treasurer of the California Republican Party, to pay Cook’s legal fees. The opinion said he had sued the wrong person in the wrong place — it was the secretary of state in Sacramento, not the registrar, who had final authority over Cook’s credentials on the ballot, it stated.

“In a word, the Secretary of State is an indispensable party,” the opinion reads. “And there is no doubt she can be served and made a party, so the case must be dismissed, unless she is made a party. And, the only way that the case can go forward is... to have it go forward in Sacramento, not Orange County.”

Cook, who had not heard the news, said she was disappointed but not surprised.

“It’s just unfortunate,” she said. “I’m just going to stay focused and let things fall where they may.”

County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said his office had just received the certified list of candidates and had already begun the long process of preparing ballots to print. But Schroeder dismissed the possibility that it might be too late to change a name on the ballot.

“We have very little time left, but it’s not too late to file,” he said.

A Sacramento County Superior Court judge was scheduled to hold a hearing on the case at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Schroeder said.