A superior court’s order granting a writ of administrative mandate and remanding the proceeding to the administrative agency for a new hearing and determination may be an appealable order depending on the particular circumstances of the case. Here, the trial court’s order disposed of all claims pending before it and ended the court litigation. Also, it construed the defendant’s by-laws. If the defendant could not appeal the order remanding the case, it might be unable to challenge that reading of its by-laws later. The Court of Appeal’s earlier summary denial of the defendant’s mandate petition did not give defendant the equivalent of an appeal, even though the Court of Appeal issued a Palma notice and received plaintiff’s response before summarily denying the writ. The decision disapproves Board of Dental Examiners v. Superior Court (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 1424 insofar as it holds a superior court judgment granting mandate and remanding to the administrative agency can never be an appealable order.
California Supreme Court (Kruger, J.); May 25, 2017; 2017 WL 2276525