California Courts of Appeal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from California Court of Appeal)
Jump to: navigation, search

The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is divided into six appellate districts based on geography. The decisions of the Courts of Appeal are binding on superior courts, and they in turn are bound by the Supreme Court of California. Notably, all published California appellate decisions are binding on all trial courts,[1] unlike the federal court system, where each trial court is bound only by the appellate decisions from the particular circuit in which it sits, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.[2] Decisions by a Court of Appeal panel are not binding on other panels. When there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court of California, or if a Supreme Court justice recuses him or herself from a case, a Court of Appeal justice is assigned to hear each Supreme Court case requiring such assignment. When there are vacancies on the Court of Appeal, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court assigns a judge from the superior court to sit as a court of appeal justice. Most Court of Appeal opinions are not published and have no precedential value; the opinions that are published are included in the California Appellate Reports.

Contents

The California Constitution originally made the Supreme Court the only appellate court for the whole state. By the end of the 19th century, however, the Supreme Court was no longer able to keep up with the workload. Accordingly, in 1903, the Legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to create the Court of Appeal. On November 8, 1904, the electorate adopted the amendment.

The Courts of Appeal originally consisted of three appellate districts, headquartered in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, with three justices each. These first nine justices were appointed by the Governor.

Some of the appellate districts (First and Second) are divided into divisions that have four appellate justices, who are randomly selected to form three-justice panels for each appellate case, and whose workloads are divided semi-randomly to ensure even division of work. Some of the appellate districts (Third, Fifth, and Sixth) are not divided into divisions; for each appellate case, three-justice panels are semi-randomly drawn, again to ensure even division of work. The Fourth District is unique in that it is divided into three geographically-based divisions that are administratively separate, each of which works much like the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Districts.

The Supreme Court of California's headquarters is also home to the First District
The Supreme Court of California's headquarters is also home to the First District

The California Court of Appeal for the First District is located in San Francisco. Its jurisdiction is over the following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma. It is divided into five non-geographical divisions with four justices each:

Division One:

Division Two:

Division Three:

Division Four:

Division Five:

The Second District's main courthouse in Los Angeles, which it shares with the Supreme Court's branch office
The Second District's main courthouse in Los Angeles, which it shares with the Supreme Court's branch office

The California Court of Appeal for the Second District has its main courthouse in Los Angeles and the secondary courthouse, hosting Division Six, in Ventura. Division Six handles appeals from San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties, while Divisions One through Five, Seven, and Eight handle appeals from Los Angeles County. Each division has four justices.

Division One:

Division Two:

Division Three:

Division Four:

Division Five:

Division Six:

Division Seven:

Division Eight:

The Third District's courthouse in Sacramento
The Third District's courthouse in Sacramento
Justices of the California Court of Appeal for the Third District as of 2007. Standing, from left to right: Butz, Hull, Raye, Morrison, Robie, Cantil-Sakauye. Seated: Davis, Blease, Scotland, Sims, Nicholson.
Justices of the California Court of Appeal for the Third District as of 2007. Standing, from left to right: Butz, Hull, Raye, Morrison, Robie, Cantil-Sakauye. Seated: Davis, Blease, Scotland, Sims, Nicholson.

The California Court of Appeal for the Third District is located in Sacramento. Its jurisdiction is over the following counties: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, and Yuba. It has 11 justices and is not divided into divisions.

Justices:

The California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District is unique in that it is divided into three geographical divisions that are administratively separate, which even have different case number systems, and yet remain referred to as a single district.

The Division One courthouse is located in San Diego. It handles appeals from Imperial and San Diego Counties. It has 10 justices.

Justices:

The Division Two courthouse is located in Riverside. It handles appeals from Inyo, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. It has seven justices. It is the only California appellate court that issues a tentative opinion before oral argument.

Justices:

The Division Three courthouse in Santa Ana
The Division Three courthouse in Santa Ana

The Division Three courthouse is located in Santa Ana. It handles appeals from Orange County. It has eight justices.

Justices:

The Fifth District's Fresno courthouse
The Fifth District's Fresno courthouse

The California Court of Appeal for the Fifth District is located in Fresno. Its jurisdiction covers the following counties: Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Tuolumne. It has 10 justices.

Justices:

The Comerica Bank Tower, which houses the Sixth District's courthouse
The Comerica Bank Tower, which houses the Sixth District's courthouse

The California Court of Appeal for the Sixth District is located in the Comerica Bank building in San José. Its jurisdiction covers Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties. It has seven justices.

Justices:

  1. ^ Auto Equity Sales, Inc. v. Superior Court,, 57 Cal. 2d 450, 369 P.2d 937, 20 Cal. Rptr. 321 (1962).
  2. ^ See, e.g., Reiser v. Residential Funding Corp., 380 F.3d 1027 (7th Cir. 2004).

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Courts_of_Appeal"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.