Opinion ID: 1189801
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Treating Appeal as Petition for Writ

Text: In response to our inquiry about appealability, both plaintiffs and the county strongly urge that we decide the merits of the appeal. The authors of the 11 amicus curiae briefs filed in support of both sides would undoubtedly concur. [12] Before deciding whether to reach the merits, however, we must consider what means for doing so are open to us after the changes in our jurisdiction made in 1985 by the amendment to article VI, section 12, of the California Constitution and by additions and amendments to the California Rules of Court, including rules 25, 28, and 29.4. [T]he major change effected by the [Constitutional] amendment [is this]: the usual judgment of the Supreme Court on review will be that the Court of Appeal judgment is affirmed, reversed or modified. Under prior practice, the Court of Appeal judgment having been vacated and nullified by the grant of hearing, it was the trial court judgment that the Supreme Court affirmed, reversed or modified upon its decision of an appeal. (Advisory Com. Comment, Cal. Rules of Court, rule 29.4, West's Ann. Rules (1994 pocket pt.) rule 29.4, p. 55, parentheses omitted.) In Olson v. Cory (1984) 35 Cal.3d 390 [197 Cal. Rptr. 843, 673 P.2d 720], we granted a petition for hearing and thereby brought the case here for decision as if the appeal had originally been taken to this court. (See Knouse v. Nimocks (1937) 8 Cal.2d 482 [66 P.2d 438]; 9 Witkin, Cal. Procedure, supra, Appeal, § 707, pp. 678-679.) After briefing and argument, we concluded that the order from which the appeal had been taken was not appealable, but that the records and briefs included in substance the elements necessary to a proceeding for writ of mandate, and that we had power to treat the purported appeal as a petition for that writ. We also decided to exercise that power because of the unusual circumstances that the case presented. ( Olson v. Cory, supra, 35 Cal.3d at p. 401.) Examining the merits, we held that the trial court's order purportedly appealed from was incorrect in several respects. Accordingly, we ordered the issuance by this court of a peremptory writ of mandate, directing the trial court to vacate its order and to make a new order consistent with this court's opinion. ( Id. at p. 408.) Under the new rules implementing the constitutional amendment, our decision on the merits of a case ordinarily culminates not in any orders or directions addressed to the trial court but in a remittitur to the Court of Appeal, accompanied by a certified copy of our opinion. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 25.) Because the present trial court's judgment was nonappealable, the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction over the appeal, and the latter court's judgment of reversal must itself be reversed. The question is, what directions to the Court of Appeal should accompany our reversal of its judgment if we reach the merits after concluding that the record and briefs and the presence of unusual circumstances make this an appropriate case for treating the appeal as a petition for writ of mandate? If in that event we have found a need for correcting the trial court's judgment, we should direct the Court of Appeal to treat the notice of appeal as a petition for a writ and to issue a peremptory writ of mandate to the trial court, directing that court to vacate its judgment and issue a different judgment or order consistent with this court's opinion. If, on the other hand, we have decided that the trial court's judgment need not be disturbed, we should direct the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal. The reasons for directing dismissal would be not simply the nonappealability of the trial court's judgment, but also the conclusion of this court, after considering the merits for the purpose of determining whether to direct the Court of Appeal to issue the writ, that issuance of a writ is not necessitated by any error in the trial court's judgment. (3) The next question is whether we should in fact reach the merits of the present case as a basis for determining whether to direct the Court of Appeal to issue the writ. The standards for making that determination are essentially the same as those outlined in Olson v. Cory, supra, 35 Cal.3d 390, 401, by which we decided under the former procedure whether we ourselves should treat the notice of appeal as a petition for the writ. The briefs and record before us contain all the elements prescribed by rule 56 of the California Rules of Court for an original mandate proceeding. The functional equivalents of any necessary verifications (see Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1086, 1089) are supplied not only by the verified pleadings but also by the certifications of the clerk's transcript by the clerk of the trial court and of the reporter's transcript by the clerk and the reporter. There is no indication that the trial court as respondent would wish to appear separately or become more than a nominal party to a writ proceeding. ( Olson v. Cory, supra, 35 Cal.3d at p. 401; People v. Cimarusti (1978) 81 Cal. App.3d 314, 320 [146 Cal. Rptr. 421].) Furthermore, the case in its present posture presents unusual circumstances making it appropriate to ascertain from the record whether there are substantive errors that the Court of Appeal should, by writ, order the trial court to correct. One circumstance is the considerable prior case law indicating that the present appeal was proper. Although we have now disapproved that line of authority, it made counsel's perceptions of appealability not unreasonable when the appeal was taken. Judicial economy would not be served in this case by deferring resolution of the issues decided by the Court of Appeal until final judgment on all of plaintiffs' causes of action. The merits of those issues not only have been briefed by the parties and decided by the Court of Appeal, but also have been thoughtfully addressed by a diverse group of amici curiae (listed in footnote 12, ante ) who seek clarification of the potential effect of local parcel merger requirements upon vast areas of California land, much of which was subdivided many decades ago. Further proceedings in the trial court would be unlikely to improve upon the record or briefing now presented to us for resolving the question. Another circumstance we must consider relates to the apparent mootness as between the parties of the central question of the validity of the county ordinances. In response to plaintiffs' complaint, the county sought to justify its refusal to issue plaintiffs a development permit on the ground of their failure to comply with the ordinances' parcel merger requirements. The trial court's judgment declared the ordinances to be invalid because preempted by the merger provisions of the Subdivision Map Act and ordered the county to stop enforcing the ordinances and to reconsider plaintiffs' application for a development permit in light of the court's ruling. The county immediately ceased enforcing the ordinances against plaintiffs and issued them the permit. This compliance by the county with the trial court's writ eliminated the issue of the ordinances' validity as it affects the immediate dispute between the parties. Despite this mootness, the issue remains of immediate importance to the orderly planning for possible development of thousands of other antiquated subdivision parcels held in Santa Barbara County and throughout the state by many landowners including plaintiffs themselves and their affiliates. If an action involves a matter of continuing public interest and the issue is likely to recur, a court may exercise an inherent discretion to resolve that issue, even though an event occurring during its pendency would normally render the matter moot. ( Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Fales (1973) 8 Cal.3d 712, 715-716 [106 Cal. Rptr. 21, 505 P.2d 213]; see Downtown Palo Alto Com. for Fair Assessment v. City Council (1986) 180 Cal. App.3d 384, 391 [225 Cal. Rptr. 559] [deciding moot issue of validity of Palo Alto city ordinance because of testimony that 50 other California cities had adopted similar ordinances].) The continuing public interest in the present issue and its likely recurrence is another unusual circumstance indicating that we should resolve the issue here. Accordingly, in order to determine whether we should direct the Court of Appeal to issue a peremptory writ of mandate to the trial court for the purpose of correcting that court's judgment, we turn to the merits of plaintiffs' contention that the county ordinances are preempted by the merger provisions of the Subdivision Map Act.