Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

No.

However, the stay may only be to part of the case, in which event the rest of the case can continue. A review of the stay order is needed to determine its impact on the lower court.

It depends on what exactly is stayed. I can't imagine a situation in which an entire civil case would be stayed by a higher court in the middle of the case. So you have to look at what the exact terms of the stay are.

There are times when an appellate court will stay a superior court case. This sometimes happens while the appellate court considers a writ petition. And no, the judge may not ignore the stay order.

But as both Mr. Perry and Mr. McCormick have noted, such stays often apply to some aspects of a case and not to others. Whether a particular act falls within the stay will depend upon what the stay order says.

Filing an appeal automatically stays some types of action in the superior court. In many appeals, filing an appeal bond will stay some other aspects of the case. But even these stays apply only to some proceedings and not to others.

Finally, please note that the stay issued by the appellate court might apply only to the appeal and not to the proceedings below. Here again, I would need to know what the court said in the stay order.