Wagner Farms, Inc. v. Modesto Irrigation District

Plaintiff farmers appeal an award of costs to defendant Modesto Irrigation District (MID), which the superior court made after denying plaintiffs’ petition for a writ of mandate to enforce the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Plaintiffs contend the superior court erred in awarding MID $33,422.24 for preparing the 4,107-page record of proceedings (ROP) because (1) MID impermissibly delegated the preparation of the ROP to consultants, and (2) MID did not submit adequate information from which to determine whether the amounts claimed as costs were necessary and reasonable.

The ROP prepared by MID contains documents that were created after the project was approved. These postapproval documents do not reflect the proceedings that actually occurred, and they are not properly part of the ROP. (El Morro Community Assn. v. California Dept. of Parks & Recreation (2004) 122 Cal.App.4th 1341, 1359 [ 19 Cal.Rptr.3d 445 ].) Thus, the time spent preparing them was not a necessary and reasonable cost of preparing the ROP. The minimal factual information submitted by MID was insufficient to justify the unusually high per page cost for preparing the record.…