At most Supreme Court Wednesday conferences, the vast majority of the orders are denials. Not so this week, where the court granted, transferred, granted and transferred, and dismissed four dozen cases.

Here are the highlights:

  • The court granted review in the Southern California Gas Leak Cases. The Second District, Division Five, Court of Appeal there held in a published opinion that businesses adversely affected by the infamous, massive Aliso Canyon gas leak could not sue Southern California Gas Company based on negligence for economic loss absent personal injury, property damage, or a special relationship. A dissenting justice thought the court acted precipitously, objecting to deciding the issue based on a writ petition following a demurrer ruling. [March 2 update: the issue, as summarized by court staff, is, “Can a plaintiff who is harmed by a manmade environmental disaster state a claim for negligence against the gas company that allegedly caused the disaster if the damages sustained are purely economic?”]
  • The court also agreed to hear Noel v. Thrifty Payless, Inc., a case in which the First District, Division Four, Court of Appeal’s published opinion upheld the superior court’s refusal to certify a class action after denying the plaintiff’s request for a continuance so he could more fully develop the facts to support his motion to certify the class. [March 2 update: the issue, as summarized by court staff, is, “Must a plaintiff seeking class certification under Code of Civil Procedure section 382 or the Consumer Legal Remedies Act demonstrate that records exist permitting the identification of class members?”]
  • A third straight-grant of review was in Morris v. Superior Court, where the court has limited the issue to whether an Appellate Division of the Superior Court is required to appoint counsel for an indigent defendant charged with a misdemeanor offense on an appeal by the prosecution. The defendant in the case won an evidence suppression motion and consequently had the case against her dismissed, but, according to the published opinion of the Fourth District, Division Two, Court of Appeal, she was not entitled to appointed counsel when the prosecution appealed. This is the second grant of review in the case, the Supreme Court in 2016 having directed the Court of Appeal to hear the writ petition on the merits after the petition was summarily denied.
  • The court issued a grant and hold order in People v. Showell. The lead cases concern issues about life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders. The Second District, Division Seven, Court of Appeal dismissed the defendant’s appeal as moot. The dismissal might have been based on an interpretation of recent statutory and regulatory changes, a subject that a 4-3 majority of the Supreme Court on Monday declined to address.
  • The court issued grant and transfer orders in four criminal cases. In one of those, the court also ordered the Court of Appeal’s opinion depublished.
  • In 40 grant-and-hold criminal cases, the court either dismissed review or transferred the matters back to the various Courts of Appeal for reconsideration in light of the lead cases.