Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in California

Re: Superior Court--Appellate Court Relationship

Theoretically, the opinions of all six District Courts of Appeal are equally binding on all trial courts. In those unusual circumstances where the appellate courts have disagreed on an issue that comes up in a trial, the trial court will be more likely to follow the cue of the appellate court which would end up reviewing its decision.

More commonly, a trial court will be faced with an issue which has not been addressed by the local appellate court but which has been decided elsewhere in the state. When that happens, the trial court will usually accept the decision of the other appellate court as binding.

Where a disagreement exists between the courts of two (or more) districts and the same issue comes up in a trial within another district that has not decided the case, all bets are off. Some trial judges will try to guess which way their local court would go, and others (most, probably) will simply use their own best judgment.

Re: Superior Court--Appellate Court Relationship

A trial court is bound by the decisions of the Court of Appeal which reviews its decisions. Technically, the trial court is bound by the law of the State of California as determined by the Supreme Court of California and the intermediate appellate courts. Although usually an intermediate appellate court will follow the law as declared by another intermediate appellate court but it is not required to follow that decision if it determines that the law as declared in the appellate court opinion is not in conformity to the law of California or that of the United States. I hope that this is of some assistance.