Appealing Party Confused Pretrial and Post-trial Prevailing Party Cost Recoupment.
Mt. Shasta Tomorrow v. County of Siskiyou, Case No. C072035 (3d Dist. May 14, 2014) (unpublished) is a case where a CEQA petitioner claiming financial hardship had its case dismissed for belatedly moving to waive costs of certifying the administrative record (A/R). The deposit was only $1,955.54, and the appellate court sustained the dismissal. Generally, the parties must pay for the preparation of the A/R, not the relevant agency. However, the agency must review and certify the accuracy of the A/R. The dismissal based on the deposit by a litigant having no ability to litigate–much in the first instance in the court’s perception based on the record–was affirmed. In doing so, the Third District found that pretrial certification preparation costs versus post-trial prevailing party costs were much “different” animals, so petitioner’s technical arguments otherwise were not apples-to apples in nature.
BLOG OBSERVATION—So where is Siskiyou County? It is a California county in the Shasta Cascade region on the Oregon border.
Mt. Shasta. Siskiyou County. Carol M. Highsmith. Library of Congress.