‘Deferential’ Solar Case Stance Tossed by California High Court

California courts must review a dispute over rooftop solar panel policy, the state’s top court said, instructing judges broadly to defer less to the state’s Public Utilities Commission when interpreting utilities regulations.

A “uniquely deferential” approach to utilities cases established by Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Public Utilities Com. in 1968 no longer applies, because the legislature, starting in the late 1990s, expanded judicial review of most commission decisions, California Supreme Court judges said in a unanimous Thursday opinion.

Greyhound found that, in cases where the commission “regularly pursued its authority,” courts should generally leave its interpretation of public utilities ...