Petitioner’s Failure to Comply With Discovery Regarding its Standing to Sue Results in Dismissal of CEQA Case
A CEQA case challenging the City of Wildomar's approval of a Wal-Mart retail complex has been dismissed because the petitioner refused to comply with discovery requests regarding its standing to sue. Creed-21 v. City of Wildomar, 4th Dist. Court of Appeal Case No.E066367 (pub. order 12/19/2017). CEQA cases generally are decided on the administrative record before the public agency when it approved a project. Therefore, civil discovery such as depositions, interrogatories and document production requests normally is not a feature of CEQA litigation. Discovery can, however, be allowed regarding threshold questions that are not addressed in the agency's record, such as the petitioner's standing to sue. In Creed-21, the petitioner alleged that it had standing to sue because it was a non-profit, social-advocacy organization, and that at least one of its members resided in or near Wildomar. Wal-Mart contended, however, that Creed-21 existed only as a vehicle for collection of attorneys' fees and lacked standing to bring a CEQA suit. It sought a deposition and documents in order to support its theory that Creed-21 was a shell corporation that consisted of only two members, neither of whom lived in Wildomar. Over the next six months, Creed-21 responded by:
- objecting to the discovery requests on the ground that its membership was irrelevant;
- requiring the respondents to obtain an order from the superior court for the deposition and documents;
- unsuccessfully seeking relief from the superior court to reverse that order;
- unsuccessfully seeking relief from the court of appeal on the grounds that discovery was not allowed in CEQA cases and would violate the privacy rights of its members; and then
- failing to comply with the court order, citing family emergency.
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