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California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1028.5

Legal Research Home > California Laws > Code of Civil Procedure > California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1028.5

(a) In any civil action between a small business or a
licensee and a state regulatory agency, involving the regulatory
functions of a state agency as applied to a small business or a
licensee, if the small business or licensee prevails, and if the
court determines that the action of the agency was undertaken without
substantial justification, the small business or licensee may, in
the discretion of the court, be awarded reasonable litigation
expenses in addition to other costs. Funds for such expenses and
costs shall be paid from funds in the regular operating budget of the
state regulatory agency where the appropriation therefor encompasses
the payment of such costs and expenses, and not from unappropriated
money in the General Fund.
   (b) "Reasonable litigation expenses" means any expenses not in
excess of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) which the
judge finds were reasonably incurred in opposing the agency action,
including court costs, expenses incurred in administrative
proceedings, attorney's fees, witness fees of all necessary
witnesses, and such other expenses as were reasonably incurred.
   (c) "Small business" means a business activity that is all of the
following:
   (1) Independently owned and operated.
   (2) Not dominant in its field of operation.
   (3) Not exceeding the following annual gross receipts or other
criteria in the categories of:
   (A) Agriculture, one million dollars ($1,000,000).
   (B) General construction, nine million five hundred thousand
dollars ($9,500,000).
   (C) Special trade construction, five million dollars ($5,000,000).
   (D) Retail trade, two million dollars ($2,000,000).
   (E) Wholesale trade, nine million five hundred thousand dollars
($9,500,000).
   (F) Services, two million dollars ($2,000,000).
   (G) Transportation and warehousing, one million five hundred
thousand dollars ($1,500,000).
   (H) A manufacturing enterprise not exceeding 250 employees.
   (I) A health care facility not exceeding 150 beds or one million
five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) in annual gross receipts.
   (J) Generating and transmitting electric power not exceeding 4,500
megawatt hours annually.
   (d) "Licensee" means any person licensed by a state agency who
does not qualify as a small business, but whose annual gross receipts
from the use of such license do not exceed one million dollars
($1,000,000).
   (e) A small business or a licensee shall be deemed to prevail in
any action in which there is no adjudication, stipulation, or
acceptance of liability on the part of the small business or
licensee.
   (f) A small business or licensee shall not be deemed to have
prevailed in actions commenced at the instance of, or on the basis of
a complaint filed by, a person who is not an officer, employee, or
other agent of the state regulatory agency if the action is dismissed
by the agency upon a finding of no cause for the action, or is
settled by the agency and small business or licensee without a
finding of fault.
   (g) Section 800 of the Government Code shall not apply to actions
which are subject to the provisions of this section.
   (h) Every state regulatory agency against which litigation
expenses have been awarded under this section shall, at the time of
submission of its proposed budget pursuant to Section 13320 of the
Government Code, submit a report to the Department of Finance and the
Legislature as to the amount of those expenses awarded and paid
during the fiscal year.
   (i) This section shall be known and may be cited as the
Carpenter-Katz Small Business Equal Access to Justice Act of 1981.

Last modified: February 13, 2012