Tomorrow morning, the Supreme Court will file its opinions in two-thirds of the cases argued in November. That might sound like a lot, but there were only three cases on that month’s calendar. Tomorrow’s opinions will be in People v. Lopez and Cox v. City of Oakland (née Crescent Trust v. City of Oakland). (Briefs here; oral argument videos here and here.)
When the court granted review in Lopez in November 2023, it limited the issue to: “Is defendant entitled to retroactive application of Assembly Bill No. 333 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.) where he appeals for a second time after his judgment was conditionally reversed and the Court of Appeal issued a limited remand to the trial court to address sentencing issues?” More about the case here.
The Cox opinion is expected to address whether a pre-1972 conveyance by a single deed of a group of fewer than five contiguous lots that are separately described in the deed by reference to lot numbers on a pre-1893 survey map is a “division” of land that “creates” an individual lawful lot for each of the separately described lots in the single deed under the conclusive presumption set forth in Government Code section 66412.6, subdivision (a), of the Subdivision Map Act? The court granted review in July 2023. More about the case here.
These will be the first opinions in the November calendar cases. The opinion in the last case — the death penalty appeal in People v. Hin — should file by February 6. Other argued but undecided cases are the four on the December calendar (opinions due by March 3, except for the death penalty appeal in People v. McGhee, in which the opinion isn’t due until April 3 because of post-argument briefing) and the three on the January calendar (opinions due by April 7, although there’s a pending motion in People v. Jasso to pause the 90-day clock for additional briefing).
The Lopez and Cox opinions can be viewed tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.