Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in California

Re: Remittitur the Full implication and what causes remittitur to issue

It is the appellate order terminating its jurisdiction over the case and returning jurisdiction back to the lower court. Once issued, there are almost no other things the higher court can do with the case. The lower court cannot do very much as long as the higher court has jurisdiction, so this is how the "retransfer" works. Any further activity is now to occur in the lower court, which is bound to follow the ruling of the higher court in all of its actions.

Re: Remittitur the Full implication and what causes remittitur to issue

The remittitur returns jurisdiction over a case to the triasl court. The remittitur issues after the ruling of the Court of Appeal becomes final. This may happen when the time to seek review in the state Supreme Court has passed, when the Supreme Court has denied review or when the Supreme Court affirms the appellate court's decision. In cases where the California Supreme Court reverses, the remittitur will not issue until any further proceedings in the appellate court have been completed or the time for a party to act has expired.

Remittiturs really aren't very siginificant because any applicable deadline will have already passed before the remittitur is issued. A petition filed the day before the remittitur comes out would still be late and would be rejected on that basis; it makes no difference that the remittitur has yet to issue. In that sense the remittitur is little more than a formality.

In unusual cases, the remittitur can be recalled and jurisdiction can be removed from the trial court. This can happen, for example, where the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to take a case after the remittitur has already issued.