Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in California
petition for review at supreme court of ca how to
appeal involuntarily dismissed for failure to file opening brief....motion to reinstate denied with no opinion/explanation..need to petition for review at state supreme level or are there other options i don't know about??, involuntary dismissal finals in 4 days, then 10 days to complete and file petition to supreme..what do i do,what papers do i file?????what has to beincluded????? HELP PLEASE SOMEONEHELP!!!!!!!
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: petition for review at supreme court of ca how to
You probably should retain an attorney quickly. Obviously this in a matter not for a pro per. Call me directly at (619) 222-3504.
Re: petition for review at supreme court of ca how to
You lost. Not filing a timely opening brief in the Court of Appeal indicates you didn't know what you were doing; an attorney who did this would face a malpractice lawsuit. Probably you lost the case in the Superior Court because you didn't know what you were doing there, either.
Re: petition for review at supreme court of ca how to
The best you can hope for in the Supreme Court is that it will tell the Court of Appeal it should reinstate your case, and that is *very* unlikely. In fact, I don't think it has ever been done. The Supreme Court will not consider the merits of your case under these circumstances.
Failure to file the opening brief on time triggers a warning notice and a grace period of 15 days for civil appeals or 30 days for criminal appeals. You can ask for extensions either before or after you get that notice, but it seems that you didn't do this.
If you miss the due date, fail to seek extensions and ignore the warning notice, that is ample reason to dismiss your case. The Court of Appeal does not need to explain its reasons for denying a motion to reinstate in that situation.
If this is a criminal case you may still be able to make many of the same arguments in a habeas corpus petition. If it is a civil case, this option will not be available to you.
I'm sorry I can't be more encouraging, but you should have asked for guidance long ago. Now it is almost certainly too late to salvage your case.
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