When the Supreme Court a few months ago took the rare step of denying a Ninth Circuit request to decide a state law question, it nonetheless gave the federal court a good idea what the answer should be. The Ninth Circuit’s request cited a conflict in California Court of Appeal case law on the question it was posing, and the Supreme Court’s denial order included a “see” citation to the two cases that the Ninth Circuit identified as being on one side of the split.
The Ninth Circuit today took the hint. In Patterson v. City of Yuba City, the appeals court noted the “see” cite and said, “We therefore rely on [one of the cited cases] as a guide for how the California Supreme Court would decide this case.”