Sierra Club v. San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Com

In Sierra Club v. San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Com. (1999) 21 Cal. 4th 489, the Sierra Club and others filed a mandamus petition challenging a local agency formation commission's (LAFCO) approval of a city's annexation of property for a real estate development. ( Id. at p. 494.) The trial court dismissed the petition on the ground that the objectors had failed to request reconsideration before the LAFCO as provided in Government Code section 56857, subdivision (a), and the Court of Appeal affirmed. (Sierra Club, at pp. 494-495.) The Supreme Court reversed, noting that subdivision (a) of Government Code section 56857 merely provides that an adverse party "may" request reconsideration of an adverse LAFCO decision, and that "nothing in the statutory scheme explicitly states that an aggrieved party must seek rehearing prior to filing a court action." (Sierra Club, at p. 495.) The court reasoned that "at the most basic level, when a party has been given ostensibly permissive statutory authorization to seek reconsideration of a final decision, that he or she is affirmatively required to do so in order to obtain recourse to the courts is not intuitively obvious. Even to attorneys, the word 'may' ordinarily means just that. It does not mean 'must' or 'shall.' " ( Id. at p. 499.) The court further reasoned that reconsideration by the administrative body would not further the purpose of the exhaustion requirement because "the administrative record has been created, the claims have been sifted, the evidence has been unearthed, and the agency has already applied its expertise and made its decision as to whether relief is appropriate. The likelihood that an administrative body will reverse itself when presented only with the same facts and repetitive legal arguments is small." ( Id. at p. 501.) In so holding, the court overruled Alexander v. State Personnel Bd. (1943) 22 Cal. 2d 198 137 P.2d 433, to the extent it held that a party aggrieved by an administrative decision must always pursue available procedures for rehearing or reconsideration before the administrative body prior to seeking judicial review. ( Sierra, 21 Cal. 4th at p. 510.)