One straight grant at yesterday’s conference: Supreme Court will hear housing assistance subsidies case

Here are some of the notable actions the Supreme Court took at its Wednesday conference yesterday:

• The only straight grant of review was in Reilly v. Marin Housing Authority.  In a published opinion, the First District, Division Two, Court of Appeal there held that the amount of a family’s assistance under the federal Housing Choice Voucher program was properly reduced by taking into account compensation the mother received from the state In-Home Supportive Services program for caring for her severely disabled adult daughter.
• There was one recorded dissent from a petition for review denial.  Justice Goodwin Liu was the lone justice who (publicly) voted to hear In re J.V.  In that case, the Third District, in an unpublished opinion, expanded a juvenile court’s authority to commit a minor to the Division of Juvenile Facilities (formerly the California Youth Authority).  The Court of Appeal didn’t publish its opinion even though it specifically said it was addressing an issue the Supreme Court had left undecided six years ago.
• The court granted review and immediately transferred the matter back to the Fourth District, Division One, in Fierro v. Landry’s Restaurant.  The Court of Appeal had decided the case in a published opinion, but the Supreme Court has instructed the lower court to reconsider in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh (2018) ___U.S.___ [138 S.Ct. 1800, 201 L.Ed.2d 123], regarding the tolling effect of filing a class action lawsuit in which class certification is subsequently denied.
• The court restarted the briefing schedule in Jarman v. HCR ManorCare, Inc. because of the lifting of a bankruptcy stay that had stalled the case in April.
• The court issued an order to show cause in In re Shamblin, a pro per’s habeas corpus petition.  The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will now need to justify in superior court the imposition of a parole revocation fine.
• The court issued grant-and-hold orders in three criminal cases.
• The court dismissed review in or transferred back to the Courts of Appeal 21 grant-and-hold criminal cases.

With the court returning to the courtroom next week for oral arguments, there won’t be another conference until September 12.