Filed 9/30/13 Sierra Club v. Superior Court CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for 

publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication

or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. 

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

SIERRA CLUB,

 Petitioner,

v.

THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ORANGE 

COUNTY,

 Respondent;

COUNTY OF ORANGE,

 Real Party in Interest.

 G044138

 (Super. Ct. No. 30-2009-00121878-

 CU-WM-CJC)

 O P I N I O N 

Original proceedings; petition for a writ of mandate to challenge an order of 

the Superior Court of Orange County, James J. Di Cesare, Judge. Petition granted.

Venskus & Associates and Sabrina D. Venskus for Petitioner.

Michel & Associates and C.D. Michel for Members of the GIS Community 

as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.
2

Law Offices of Michael W. Stamp, Michael W. Stamp, and Molly Erickson 

for The Open Monterey Project as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

M. Rhead Enion for Academic Researchers in Public Health, Urban 

Planning and Environmental Justice as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Meyer, Klipper & Mohr, Christopher A. Mohr, Michael R. Klipper; 

Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, Jeffrey G. Knowles, and Julia D. Greer for Consumer 

Data Industry Association, Corelogic, LexisNexis, The National Association of 

Profession Background Screeners, and the Software & Information Industry Association 

as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Holme Roberts & Owen, Rachel Matteo-Boehm, Katherine Keating and 

Leila Knox for Media and Open Government, First Amendment Coalition, Freedom 

Communications, Inc., publisher of the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times 

Communication LLC, doing business as Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, Bay 

Area News Group, Bloomberg News, Courthouse News Service, Gannett Co., Inc., 

Hearst Corporation, Lee Enterprises, Incorporated, The McClatchy Company, Patch 

Media Corporation, The San Francisco Examiner, Wired, American Society of News 

Editors, Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, California Newspaper Publishers 

Association, Citizen Media Law Project, Electronic Frontier Foundation, First 

Amendment Coalition of Arizona, National Freedom of Information Coalition, 

Openthegovernment.org, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Society 

of Professional Journalists as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

No appearance for Respondent. 

Nicholas S. Chrisos, County Counsel, Mark D. Servino, Rebecca S. Leeds, 

and Karen L. Christensen, Deputy County Counsel, for Real Party in Interest.

Best Best & Krieger and Shawn Hagerty for League of California Cities 

and California State Association of Counties as Amici Curiae on Behalf of Real Party in 

Interest.
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Petitioner Sierra Club sought a writ of mandate from the superior court to 

compel Orange County to provide Sierra Club, under the California Public Records Act 

(PRA) (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.), a database called the OC Landbase in a geographic 

information system (GIS) format. The trial court denied Sierra Club’s petition for writ of 

mandate after concluding that the OC Landbase in GIS file format was part of a computer 

mapping system exempt from disclosure under the PRA pursuant to the computer 

software exclusion set forth in Government Code section 6254.9, subdivision (a). We 

affirmed. The California Supreme Court reversed our judgment and remanded with

directions that we remand to the trial court to issue a writ consistent with the California 

Supreme Court’s opinion. (See Sierra Club v. Superior Court (2013) 57 Cal.4th 157.) 

We therefore remand to the trial court with directions to issue a writ of mandate 

compelling Orange County to provide Sierra Club with the OC Landbase in GIS format 

for a fee covering only the direct cost of duplication. We award costs incurred on appeal 

to Sierra Club.

IKOLA, J.

WE CONCUR:

O’LEARY, P. J.

MOORE, J.