Opinion

Chas. L. Harney, Inc. v. Contractors' State License Board

  • 39 Cal. 2d 561
  • 247 P.2d 913
  • 1952 Cal. LEXIS 285
Court
California Supreme Court
Filed
Sep 23, 1952
Status
Published
Author
Edmonds
On the bench
Gibson, Edmonds
Cited by
32 cases
Authority
More cited than 7.1%

The opinion

EDMONDS, J.

I concur in the judgment of reversal solely upon the ground that judgment on the pleadings should not have been granted without leave to amend. As I read the complaint, it does not state any facts showing that Harney has a sufficient legal interest to maintain the action. However, the plaintiff should not have been foreclosed from a further attempt to state facts justifying the relief sought. (MacIsaac v. Pozzo, 26 Cal.2d 809, 815-816 [ 161 P.2d 449 ].)

Only an “interested person” may obtain declaratory relief to determine the validity of an administrative regulation. (Gov. Code, § 11440.) The bare allegation that Harney is qualified to do specialty contracting work, without more, does not constitute a showing of any interest in the challenged rule. The plaintiff should be required to allege facts showing its interest. These might be, for example, that it had an opportunity to bid on some particular specialty contracting work but was prevented from doing so by the rule, or that, prior to the promulgation of the rule, it regularly bid on the type of work now covered thereby.

To allow Harney by its present pleading to obtain a determination as to the validity of the rule of the administrative agency in effect provides a convenient method for securing an advisory opinion from this court. This is beyond the scope of the statute and contrary to established judicial procedure.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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