Opinion ID: 367218
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Continued Vitality of Napa Valley

Text: 18 The procedure for obtaining review of rate orders with which the Supreme Court dealt in Napa Valley has since been slightly modified and recodified, but the essential attributes of the procedure upon which the Supreme Court relied have remained the same. 7 Thus, in People v. Western Air Lines, 42 Cal.2d 621, 268 P.2d 723 (1954), 8 Appeal dismissed, 348 U.S. 859, 75 S.Ct. 87, 99 L.Ed. 677 (1955), 9 the California Supreme Court reaffirmed the rule relied upon in Napa Valley that denial of a writ of review is a final judgment on the merits; it also applied that rule specifically to the PUC. The California court wrote: 19 Direct attack (on PUC orders) is made available by application for writ of review to this court . . . . 20 . . . It is established . . . that the denial by this court of a petition for review of an order of the commission is a decision on the merits both as to the law and the facts presented in the review proceedings. (Citation omitted.) This is so even though the order of this court is without opinion. Napa Valley Electric Co. . . .. 21 Id. at 630-31, 268 P.2d at 728. The court then quoted extensively from Napa Valley, including its language regarding application of res judicata to denials of writs of review by the California court. Id. We conclude, therefore, that the recodification of California law has not affected the vitality of the Napa Valley reading of California procedure or of the Napa Valley decision itself.