Rule 8.208 of the California Rules of Court provides that a party must file a “Certificate of Interested Entities or Persons” in the Court of Appeal with its first motion, application, opposition or principal brief.  (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.208(d)(1).)  The purpose of the rule “is to provide justices of the Courts of Appeal [...]

The Court is holding no conference today because it is hearing oral argument in San Francisco.  Accordingly, this week no action will be taken on petitions for review and no opinions will be ordered published or depublished.

The Supreme Court has the power to order a Court of Appeal opinion depublished.  (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.1105(e)(2) [“The Supreme Court may order that an opinion certified for publication is not to be published . . .”].)  It is clear that a depublished appellate decision cannot be cited as precedent.  (Cal. Rules of [...]

The following is our summary of the Supreme Court’s actions on petitions for review in civil cases from the Court’s conference on Wednesday, May 18, 2011.  The summary includes those civil cases in which (1) review has been granted (not including grant-and-transfers), (2) review has been denied but one or more justices has voted for [...]

A recent article by Sheri Qualters in The Recorder discusses Tivo Inc. v. EchoStar Corp., Slip Op., 2011 WL 1767314 (C.A.Fed. (Tex.)) in which the Federal Circuit issued an en banc order denying the parties’ joint motion to dismiss the appeal after the parties reached a settlement.  The Federal Circuit noted that the parties made [...]

The California Supreme Court knew it was buying a high-profile case when it agreed to answer a state law standing question posed by the Ninth Circuit as the federal appeals court reviews a district court ruling that found unconstitutional Proposition 8, the initiative passed by the electorate in 2008 to prohibit same-sex marriage.  Unsurprisingly, 11 amicus curiae [...]

The following is our summary of the Supreme Court’s actions on petitions for review in civil cases from the Court’s conference on Wednesday, May 11, 2011.  The summary includes those civil cases in which (1) review has been granted (not including grant-and-transfers), (2) review has been denied but one or more justices has voted for [...]

iPads and other tablet computers are all the rage, and not only for surfing the ‘net on weekends and keeping up with your friends on Facebook.  As this article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discusses, iPads are becoming increasingly popular with judges and lawyers.  Key advantages cited are that they are lightweight (they can store [...]

For some light reading, check out this article in the Chicago Tribune explaining that Bob Dylan is cited more often than any other songwriter in legal opinions and briefs.  Out of curiosity, we checked the California Supreme Court’s stats on the subject, and it appears Bob Dylan has been cited only once by the Court.  [...]

The Los Angeles Times reports that State Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), Chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, has demanded an apology from State Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) for remarks he made yesterday about Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.  When introducing the highly controversial AB 1208, the Trial Court Rights Act, in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, [...]

As we have noted here and elsewhere, the controversial Trial Court Rights Act, AB 1208, is a challenge to the concentration of administrative authority over California’s courts in the Judicial Council of California, which is chaired by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, and its administrative arm, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).  As noted by [...]

The Supreme Court hears no oral arguments during July and August.  But it doubles up on its argument calendar before then — this year it will hear nine cases on May 24 and 25 in San Francisco and then another five cases the following week in Los Angeles.  And, as has been true since the end of [...]

The Supreme Court will file two opinions tomorrow morning.  That’s normally not news, except it’s been over nine weeks since the last opinion filing.  We haven’t checked to see if that’s a record drought, but we wouldn’t be surprised to find that it is.  As we explained, the gap is attributable to the push to file [...]

The Court is holding no conference today because it is hearing oral argument in San Francisco.  Accordingly, this week no action will be taken on petitions for review and no opinions will be ordered published or depublished.

If you’re counsel for an amicus in the Supreme Court, you may be confused or troubled when perusing the Court’s on-line docket.   You may be wondering what happened to the amicus letter you filed in support of a petition for review.  Sure, you could call the clerk’s office to make sure the letter made it [...]