Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in California

Re: Appealing a Appelate Court Opinion

You do have options, but a new appeal is not one of them.

Your first option is to petition the Court of Appeal for a rehearing. Such a petition must be filed within fifteen days after the order is entered. In order to prevail you will need to show that the Court reached an incorrect result because it misunderstood either the facts of the case or the applicable law. If the Court correctly analyzed the law and understood the facts but merely reached a result you think was mistaken, then there is no basis for a rehearing. Petitions for rehearing are rarely granted.

Your other option is to petition for review from the California Supreme Court. Such a petition can make any argument that was made in the Court of Appeal. You can also make an argument that the Court of Appeal misunderstood either the law or the facts, but you *must* first present this argument to the Court of Appeal in a petition for rehearing; the Supreme Court will not consider the argument if you skip this step.

Note that there is a ten-day period in which you can petition for review. It begins on the 31st day after the filing of the Court of Appeal's opinion and ends on the 40th day. If the 40th day is a Saturday, Sunday or court holiday, you will have until the next court day.

The Supreme Court accepts only a small fraction of the cases it is asked to review, and it decides which cases to accept based on the importance of the legal issues involved. The Court does not make its decisions based upon whether it seems that the appellate court reached the wrong result. In order to get the Court to accept your case, you need to show that your case presents an important legal question which currently has no authoritative answer.

If that doesn't work, you have the option of going to the U.S. Supreme Court. The process is very similar to what I described re: the California Supreme Court, but you have to show that your legal issue is not only important but also that it involves federal law or the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court also takes a very small fraction of the cases brought to it. You *must* petition the California Supreme Court to take your case before asking the U.S. Supreme Court to do accept it; if you try to go directly from the California Court of Appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court your petition will be rejected.

If you have a civil case, the U.S. Supreme Court is the end of the road. If you have a criminal case, you will still have the option of bringing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, but that is a complex subject and I won't try to explain how it works here.

Re: Appealing a Appelate Court Opinion

A Petition for Rehearing at the Court of Appeals can be filed and/or a Petition for Review with the State Supreme Court. Please contact our office if you need assistance.