Opinion ID: 367218
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Effect of People v. Medina

Text: 22 Appellants contend that People v. Medina, 6 Cal.3d 484, 99 Cal.Rptr. 630, 492 P.2d 686 (1972), has undermined the rule that the California Supreme Court's denial of a writ of review of a PUC order constitutes a final adjudication for res judicata purposes. We disagree. 23 Medina was charged in a criminal prosecution with unlawfully possessing heroin for sale. At a pretrial hearing he moved to suppress evidence because of an alleged unlawful search. The trial court denied the motion. Medina filed a formally sufficient petition for a writ of prohibition to gain review of the trial court's evidentiary ruling as provided by California Penal Code § 1538.5. 10 The Court of Appeal denied the petition without opinion and the California Supreme Court denied a hearing. 24 After conviction Medina appealed, again claiming that the evidence should have been suppressed. The Court of Appeal held that the denial of the writ of prohibition was res judicata upon this direct appeal, creating a conflict with another Court of Appeal decision which held that the denial without opinion of a defendant's pretrial petition for a writ under section 1538.5 is not a conclusive determination of the validity of the challenged search. Id. at 488, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 632, 492 P.2d at 688. The California Supreme Court held that the latter view of a denial of a § 1538.5 writ was correct. Id. at 488, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 632, 492 P.2d at 688. 25 The California Supreme Court first noted that the legislative history of Penal Code § 1538.5 showed that the state legislature intended that the merits of search and seizure challenges raised by a defendant's unsuccessful petition for a pretrial writ may remain open for further review on appeal from an ensuing judgment of conviction. Id. at 489, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 633, 492 P.2d at 689. The court also observed that the legislature in enacting new procedures for the presentation of search and seizure challenges did not intend to alter the traditional California procedure affording a criminal defendant a written opinion and formal hearing as to his fourth amendment contentions. Id. at 490, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 633, 492 P.2d at 689. Yet, the court wrote, if the denial of a writ, which does not require a hearing or written opinion under the California constitution or procedure, were given res judicata effect, then the criminal defendant would lose those benefits traditionally afforded. Moreover, defense counsel, recognizing this problem, would cease to invoke § 1538.5, thus undermining the legislature's intent to provide this method of challenging admissibility of evidence. Id. at 490, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 633-34, 492 P.2d at 689-90. 26 The court rejected the People's argument that res judicata should be applied anyway because the sole possible ground of the . . . denial of defendant's petition . . . was on the merits . . . . Id. at 490, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 634, 492 P.2d at 690. The court wrote: 27 (W)e cannot accept the People's contention that the sole possible ground for denying defendant's petition for the writ was a determination against him on the merits. We have continued to recognize that the writs of mandate and prohibition are extraordinary and prerogative and that therefore their use for pretrial review . . . should be confined to questions of . . . general importance. 28 Id. at 491, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 634, 402 P.2d at 690. The court then referred to the many reasons, not related to the merits, because of which the Court of Appeal may have denied the writ. The court concluded: 29 In light of the various considerations which may impel appellate justices to vote to deny a defendant's petition for a pretrial writ under section 1538.5 without opinion, we believe that giving such a minute order conclusive effect on an appeal from a subsequent judgment of conviction would amount to improper conjecture and surmise as to the theoretically possible mental processes of the justices. 30 Id. at 492, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 635, 492 P.2d at 691. The court added: 31 In view of the express language of section 1538.5, application of the doctrine of res judicata to give conclusive effect on appeal from a judgment of conviction to an appellate court's earlier decision denying defendant's application for a pretrial writ would be inappropriate even when the denial of the writ is by an opinion demonstrating adjudication of the merits. The statute permits the defendant to seek further review of the validity of the challenged search on appeal from a judgment of conviction . . . . 32 Id. at 492, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 635, 492 P.2d at 691. 33 The foregoing indicates that Medina did not affect the long-time California rule, reaffirmed in Western Air Lines, that the Supreme Court's denial of a writ of review of a rate order is a decision on the merits for res judicata purposes. Medina dealt with the res judicata effect of the denial of an extraordinary writ provided by the legislature under Penal Code § 1538.5 to afford a criminal defendant two opportunities to obtain review of trial court rulings on fourth amendment questions. The California Supreme Court concluded that application of res judicata, whether denial of a writ under § 1538.5 is with or without opinion, would be inconsistent with the legislature's intent in providing two opportunities for review. 11 34 Thus, Medina did not deal with the non-criminal writ of review provided by Public Utilities Code § 1756 as the sole means of obtaining judicial review of PUC rate orders. 12 Medina did not purport to overrule or limit Western Air Lines or the traditional rule applied in Napa Valley. Indeed, the Medina court did not even cite Western Air Lines, though one would expect such a citation were Medina intended to overrule the long-followed practice reaffirmed in that decision. 35 Appellants argue that Medina found the constitutional requirement of a written opinion to be an obstacle to application of res judicata when a writ is denied without written opinion. This is incorrect. First, while the particular case before the court involved a denial without written opinion, the court indicated that whether or not an opinion had been issued in denying a § 1538.5 writ, giving res judicata effect to the denial would conflict with the legislature's intent to provide duplicitous review. 13 Second, the court noted that the California constitutional provision requiring written opinions in some cases did not apply to the denial of writs. Id. at 490, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 633, 492 P.2d at 689. Indeed, the court wrote: 36 The denial without opinion of a petition for a writ of mandate or prohibition is not res judicata except when the sole possible ground of denial was on the merits or it affirmatively appears that the denial was intended to be on the merits. 37 Id. at 491 n.6, 99 Cal.Rptr. at 634 n.6, 492 P.2d at 690 n.6. Thus, although the court also noted that the multitude of reasons why a writ under Penal Code § 1538.5 might be denied made it difficult to read the denial (at least in the case before it) as on the merits, it indicated that even in the context of writs of prohibition and mandate the absence of a written opinion was not necessarily fatal to application of res judicata. 14 38 In short, we conclude that Medina did not undermine the long-followed California rule that the Supreme Court's denial of a writ of review of a rate order without opinion constitutes a final judgment entitled to res judicata effect. Therefore, Napa Valley, involving a situation almost identical to the case before us, mandates application of res judicata in the present case. 15 Accordingly, the district court's invocation of res judicata and its judgment are 39 AFFIRMED.