Articles

02.06.18

Exceptionally Appealing: Appeals Are for Losers

"Appeals are for losers. This should sound obvious. After all, what would a winning party be unhappy about? But litigation is complicated, and a win rarely emerges after a completely one-sided process where the winner prevails on every single point along the way and walks off with a judgment ...


01.02.18

When 60 Days Is Too Late

"Most lawyers know that filing a timely notice of appeal is crucial because an untimely appeal is a dead appeal. And most lawyers have the notion in the back of their mind that they have 60 days to appeal from a California superior court judgment. The good lawyer knows that ...


05.15.17

The California Circuit?

Like a bad penny, the idea of splitting the 9th Circuit keeps turning up. Ideas for splitting the circuit first arose in the 1960s, and the issue has waxed and waned with political interest over the past half century. One of the most vexing puzzles is precisely how to split the existing 9th ...


05.10.17

Fortunately, There Were Witnesses

Something bad happened. Fortunately, there were witnesses. Unfortunately, the witness testimony is not just inconsistent, but irreconcilably contradictory. Sounds like every case that makes it to trial, right? But readers of this column will also recognize this as the situation explored by Akira ...


11.21.16

Choosing Hobson's Choice

"Hobson's Choice" - the 1954 version, directed by David Lean - is the sort of movie that justifies the lament "they don't make 'em like this anymore." Featuring a charming story, snappy dialogue, and a talented cast (including the great Charles Laughton as the ...


04.14.16

California Appellate Practice: By the Numbers

"I was told there would be no math; that's why I went into law" is the trite refrain of many lawyers with liberal arts backgrounds. But, of course, law practice does require math: e.g., calculating damages by percentage of fault; calculating 10 percent interest per annum on most money ...


03.26.12

You've Got to Know When and How to Ask: A Look at Eight Years of 'Certified' Questions to the ...

Until very recently, federal and out-of-state courts confronting an unsettled issue of California law were forced to guess at how the California Supreme Court would resolve the issue and then undertake to decide the case. Neither federal courts sitting in diversity nor sister-state courts applying ...


03.23.12

'Macomber' Highlights Danger In Appealing Fee, Cost Awards

Isn't appealing from the judgment sufficient to challenge a fee or cost award made pursuant to that judgment? Sometimes, but frequently not.Like other notice-of-appeal issues, there are plenty of traps for the unwary who appeal fee and cost awards. When and how to appeal depends on a number of ...


07.15.11

Finality & Remittitur: What Goes Up Must Come Down

Sir Isaac Newton and Sammy Davis Jr. (courtesy of Blood, Sweat and Tears) understood a universal law: What goes up, must come down. This applies as much to appellate litigation as gravity. Cases start and end in the trial court. The notice of appeal is the jurisdictional document (filed by a ...


06.02.11

Ninth Circuit Widens Split on Copyright Registration Issue

This article was originally published in the May 28, 2010 issue of the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the San Francisco Daily Journal.The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals finally has chosen sides in a slowly developing dispute over a technical but important issue—namely, whether a ...