CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION v. Superior Court

In an action brought in San Diego County by the People of the State of California and several public interest groups challenging the certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) for, and the decision approving construction of, a toll road that would traverse portions of both San Diego and Orange Counties, made by the Orange County-based Foothill/Eastem Transportation Corridor Agency and its board of directors (together the FTCA), we are presented with the following issue: Does Code of Civil Procedure section 393, subdivision (b) (hereafter section 393(b)), which allows suits challenging actions taken by public officials to be filed in the county where some or all of the cause of action arises, apply to cases such as this that seek to vindicate public rights, or, as the FTCA contends and the trial court found, only those involving personal rights or property? We conclude, after analyzing the text of section 393(b), case law interpreting that statute, and public policy considerations, that this action to vindicate public rights was properly filed in San Diego County because section 393(b) is not limited to actions involving personal rights or property. We therefore…