Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in California

Re: Tentative Opinions?

1. Division 2 of the 4th District issues tentative appellate opinions 10 days before oral argument in all cases where oral argument has been requested. It is the opinion which will be issued unless a party can change the court's mind on an issue at oral argument. When it becomes the opinion, it is signed by the justices who issue it.

2. There is a transcript, but it is electronically recorded. I believe it is only retained for a short time.

3. No, unless you agreed previously to allow the student to do all aspects of your case. But I don't think the court of appeal would allow it without special permission. You can check the court's website for the details of filed materials and see if a motion for this was filed and granted.

4. Divsion Two hears several county superior court matters, but is situated in Riverside. It is not a Riverside court.

There are strict time limits for doing things in the appellate courts, so don't waste any time if you plan on doing something.

Re: Tentative Opinions?

I would be mad as hell if my appellate lawyer let a student argue my case without my permission, especially if he was paid (not court-appointed).

Remember you have very short deadlines (as little as 10 days) to file for a rehearing and for review in the Supreme Court. The tentative opinion ought to be a good road map for your future arguments.

Re: Tentative Opinions?

The five answers you have already received are generally good but contain a few errors and ambiguities. I'll try to clear everything up for you.

1. Tentative opinions are perfectly legal though, as far as I know, the Court of Appeal in Riverside is the only appellate court that uses them. Tentatives are very useful to the attorneys because each case involves many issues of fact and law which must be explained to a court; the tentative demonstrates which ones the court may have misunderstood or misapplied and lets the lawyers focus their arguments on those issues.

This Court issues its tentatives well in advance and asks the lawyers to decide whether to argue the case or accept the tentative as the final decision. Your opponent evidently asked for oral argument and persuaded the Court to change its mind. This happens sometimes, and is why the earlier opinion is called "tentative".

One of the justices wrote the tentative and the other two reviewed it before it went out. Most of the time all three justices agree, but if one disagrees the court will insist that the case be argued. The justice who wrote the tentative is not identified because the final decision is sometimes written by one of the others.

2. Oral arguments are tape recorded but they are not transcribed because it seldom matters what anyone says during the argument. The Supreme Court may review the decision but what matters will be the written opinion and not what was said in the courtroom. If you want a copy of the tape you can get one; call the clerk's office to learn how this is done. You can pay to have the tape transcribed if you want.

3. There is a certification process by which law students can argue cases. Offhand I don't know whether your lawyer can invoke this process without consulting you.

Even if a law student argued your case that fact may have nothing to do with the outcome. Many law students argue quite well, and it is possible that she was as good as -- or even better than -- your lawyer would have been. Whether letting a student argue the case was a mistake depends upon what was said and not upon who said it.

4. Every county has its own superior court, but this is not how appellate courts are set up. The state courts have only ten appellate courthouses, so most counties do not have one within their borders. Each appellate court covers a specific portion of the state called an appellate district, and each district includes more than one county. Your court was Division Two of the Fourth Appellate District, which is in Riverside but which hears appeals from Inyo, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, as well as occasional cases from the counties normally served by Divisions One (Imperial and San Diego) and Three (Orange).

Re: Tentative Opinions?

1. Tentative opinions are legal used quite often and are intended the guide the attorneys at oral argument. The are either issued by a judge or written by a law clerk or research attorney with the judge's approval.

2. I don't know.

3. In order for a certified law student to argue a case, he/she must meet certain educational criteria, must be directly supervised by the attorney and the client must grant permission. I did this once while it law school it was a good experience.

4. The case may have been transferred for several reasons, including not having enough available judges or perhaps a conflict of interest by some of the judges.

Re: Tentative Opinions?

1. Yes and they are regularly affirmed and rarely overturned. However, I note that the underlying judgement was against you - and it is also harder to overturn a judgement than to affirm it.

2. Not sure.

3. No.

4. Division 2 of the 4th Appellate District covers appeals in Inyo, San Bernardino and Riverside couties.

Re: Tentative Opinions?

Your attorney is either really stupid or has a lot of balls to let a law student argue your case on appeal without your permission. Start shopping for a malpractice lawyer now.

Very truly yours,

Anthony Roach

P.S. I do not handle attorney malpractice, so good luck.