Leslie

A public utility has an easement over property to maintain its electric transmission lines. The building code of the county in which the property is located adopts the State Housing Law standards for grading and excavation. The landowner and the public utility have a legal dispute over grading of the easement. Here we hold the superior court has jurisdiction to decide the case.

Petitioners Robert G. Leslie and Marilyn B. Leslie (the Leslies) filed a complaint in the Ventura County Superior Court alleging that real party in interest Southern California Edison Company (SCE) violated the Ventura County Building Code in grading and maintaining dirt access roads on their property. SCE demurred on the ground that the case comes within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

We grant the Leslies’ petition for a writ of mandate to compel the superior court to vacate its order sustaining the demurrer. We conclude the PUC does not have jurisdiction here.

Facts

The Leslies own approximately 1,795 acres (the property) in Ventura County (County). An agreement gives SCE an easement to maintain three sets of high-voltage transmission lines across the…