No Toxic Air, Inc. v. Lehigh SW Cement Co.
Annotate this CaseThe Permanent Quarry, a 3,510-acre surface mining operation producing limestone and aggregate for the manufacture of cement, is located in unincorporated Santa Clara County. The Quarry, owned by Lehigh, has been in existence since 1903. In 2011 the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors enacted a resolution finding that the Quarry’s surface mining operations are a legal nonconforming use. A non-profit organization, No Toxic Air, sought a peremptory writ of mandate challenging the resolution. The trial court upheld the County’s resolution. The court granted No Toxic Air’s motion to strike the attorney and paralegal expenses Lehigh incurred to prepare the administrative record for the writ of mandate proceedings. Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5(a) provides, “[i]f the expense of preparing all of any part of the record has been borne by the prevailing party, the expense shall be taxable as costs.” The court of appeal reversed, holding that labor costs for attorneys and paralegals to prepare the administrative record are recoverable as expenses under that section.
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