SIERRA CLUB v. SUPERIOR COURT

No. S194708.

57 Cal.4th 157 (2013)

158 Cal. Rptr. 3d 639

302 P.3d 1026

SIERRA CLUB, Petitioner, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ORANGE COUNTY, Respondent; COUNTY OF ORANGE, Real Party in Interest.

Supreme Court of California.

July 8, 2013.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Venskus & Associates, Sabrina D. Venskus and Dean Wallraff for Petitioner.

Holme Roberts & Owen, Bryan Cave , 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 Communications LLC, 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, Digital Media Law Project, 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.

M. Rhead Enion for Academic Researchers in Public Health, Urban Planning and Environmental Justice as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Jack Cohen as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Otten & Joyce, Victor J. Otten and Brigid Joyce for 212 GIS Professionals and 23 GIS Organizations as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Meyer, Klipper & Mohr, Christopher A. Mohr , Michael R. Klipper , Colby F. Block ; Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass, Jeffrey G. Knowles and Julia D. Greer for Consumer Data Industry Association, CoreLogic, LexisNexis, The National Association of Professional Background Screeners and the Software & Information Industry Association as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, Deborah A. Sivas , Alicia E. Thesing , Leah J. Russin , Matthew H. Armsby and Margaret Brennan for Advocates for the Environment as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Mark Rumold for Electronic Frontier Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Michel & Associates and C. D. Michel for the Geographic Information Systems Community as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Law Offices of Michael W. Stamp, Michael W. Stamp and Molly Erickson for The Open Monterey Project as Amicus 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.

Richards, Watson & Gershon and Ginetta L. Giovinco for California Assessors' Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest.

Best Best & Krieger, Shawn Hagerty and Rebecca Andrews for League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest.


OPINION

LIU, J.

Like many counties in California, Orange County (the County) maintains a large database of information about land parcels in a geographic information system (GIS) file format. With this database, called the "OC Landbase," a user with appropriate software can create a layered digital map containing information for over 640,000 specific parcels of land in Orange County, including geographic boundaries, assessor parcel...

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