California courts of appeal

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Map of the districts of the California courts of appeal.

First District Second District Third District

Fourth District Fifth District Sixth District

The California courts of appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S.
state of California. The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts.[1] The courts of
appeal form the largest state-level intermediate appellate court system in the United States, with 105
justices.

Contents
[hide]

 1Jurisdiction and responsibility

 2History
 3Appointment, retention, and removal
 4Organization
o 4.1First District
o 4.2Second District
o 4.3Third District
o 4.4Fourth District
  4.4.1Division One
 4.4.2Division Two
 4.4.3Division Three
 4.4.4History
o 4.5Fifth District
 4.5.1History
o 4.6Sixth District
 4.6.1History
 5See also
 6Notes
 7External links

Jurisdiction and responsibility[edit]

The California Appellate Reports, the court's official reporter

The decisions of the courts of appeal are binding on the California superior courts, and both the
courts of appeal and the superior courts are bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court of
California. Notably, all published California appellate decisions are binding on all trial courts.[2] This is
distinct from the practice in the federal courts and in other state court systems in which trial courts
are bound only by the appellate decisions from the particular circuit in which it sits, as well as
the Supreme Court of the United States or the state supreme court.[3]In contrast, "there is no
horizontal stare decisis in the California Court of Appeal";[4] court of appeal decisions are not binding
between divisions or even between panels of the same division.[5]
Thus, all superior courts (and hence all litigants) are bound by the decision of a court of appeal if it is
the only published California precedent that articulates a point of law relevant to a particular set of
facts, even if the superior court would have decided differently if writing on a fresh slate.[4] However,
another court of appeal division or district may rule differently on that point of law after a litigant
seeks relief from an adverse trial court ruling that faithfully applied existing precedent.[4] In that
instance, all superior courts are free to pick and choose which precedent they wish to follow until the
state supreme court settles the issue for the entire state, although a superior court confronted with
such a conflict will normally follow the view of its own court of appeal.[5]
It is customary in federal courts and other state courts to indicate in case citations the particular
circuit or district of an intermediate appellate court that issued the decision cited. But because the
decisions of all six California appellate districts are equally binding upon all trial courts, district
numbers are traditionally omitted in California citation style unless an actual interdistrict conflict is at
issue.
All California appellate courts are required by the California Constitution to decide criminal cases in
writing with reasons stated (meaning that even in criminal appeals where the defendant's own lawyer
has tacitly conceded that the appeal has no merit,[6] the appellate decision must summarize the facts
and law of the case and review possible issues independently before concluding that the appeal is
without merit).[7] Such procedure is not mandated for civil cases, but for certain types of civil cases
where a liberty interest is implicated, the courts of appeal may, but are not required to, follow a
similar procedure.[8][9] Most Court of Appeal opinions are not published and have no precedential
value;[10] the opinions that are published are included in the official reporter, California Appellate
Reports.
In addition, West Publishing traditionally included Court of Appeal opinions in its unofficial reporter,
the Pacific Reporter. In 1959, West began publishing both Supreme Court and Court of Appeal
opinions in West's California Reporter, and no longer included Court of Appeal opinions in the Pacific
Reporter.
Due to their huge caseloads and volume of output, the courts of appeal in turn see the largest
number of decisions appealed to the state supreme court and the Supreme Court of the United
States. A few famous U.S. Supreme Court cases, such as Burnham v. Superior Court of California,
came to the high court on writ of certiorari to one of the courts of appeal after the state supreme
court had denied review. Many Court of Appeal opinions have become nationally prominent in their
own right, such as the 1959 opinion that carved out the first judge-made exception to the at-will
employment doctrine, the 1980 opinion that authorized a cause of action for wrongful life, and the
1984 opinion that created the right to Cumis counsel.