Tull v. Yuba County
A. Teichert & Son, Inc. (Teichert), operates a gravel mine in Yuba County that produces enough aggregate to fill about 600 large trucks per day. Teichert’s gravel trucks carry the gravel to market by driving through a residential neighborhood on Hallwood Boulevard and Walnut Avenue. Responding to pleas to circumvent the Hallwood neighborhood, Teichert bought land and started building a private haul road toward the intersection of Kibbe Road and State Road 20. Although Teichert secured a grading permit from Yuba County (County), no environmental impact study was done before road construction began.
Forest and Bobbie Tull (the Tulls[1]) own property adjacent to the haul road. They filed a petition for writ of mandate on grounds that Teichert and the County failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21050 et seq.).[2] The trial court dismissed the petition as moot because the County began work on a draft environmental impact report (EIR). We reversed in Tull v. Yuba County (Jan. 31, 2006, C047900) [nonpub. opn.] (Tull I), holding that the County violated CEQA by issuing a grading permit before studying alternate routes and that the Tulls’ petition was not mooted by the work on the draft EIR.
Following remand, the Tulls sought attorney fees under the public attorney general doctrine. The trial court awarded fees to the Tulls in an amount substantially less than they sought. The Tulls appealed, and this court reversed in Tull v. Yuba County (July 7, 2008, C054917) [nonpub. opn.] (Tull II).
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