Court Opinion

ID: 9792258
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:25:54.402089+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:41.417945
License: Public Domain

SHENK, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the conclusion of the majority that the judgment as to Count II should be affirmed. However, I am convinced that the judgment of affirmance should be rendered by this court and not by the District Court of Appeal upon remand with directions or otherwise; and I agree with the discussion and *492conclusions of Mr. Justice Carter on this point in his dissenting opinion. I wish to emphasize the confusion which in my opinion the prevailing opinion has injected into the practice and procedure in situations of this sort and that in this respect the opinion is not constitutionally sound.
It is noted that the defendant was charged by information in two counts, robbery in Count I and kidnapping for the purpose of robbery in Count II. He was convicted on both counts and separate sentences were pronounced. On appeal to the District Court of Appeal the judgment as to both counts was affirmed. A petition for rehearing in that court was denied and a petition for hearing in this court was denied. The defendant moved the District Court of Appeal to recall the remittitur as to Count II only on the ground that the judgment on that count was void; that it had been improvidently made upon an innocent false suggestion; that it has been based on a mistake of fact; that it had been made through inadvertence on the.part of the court and counsel, and that it had resulted in a miscarriage of justice. The motion was granted and the remittitur was recalled as to Count II. The appeal as to that count was reinstated and was set down for rehearing. The judgment on Count I became final. The attorney general filed a petition for hearing in this court following the order recalling the remittitur. That petition was denied. The appeal as to Count II was reconsidered by the District Court of Appeal and the judgment as to that count was reversed. A petition for a hearing as to that judgment was granted and the cause was thereby transferred to this court.
It may not be denied that the District Court of Appeal had jurisdiction to entertain the motion to recall the remittitur. It is also beyond question that the motion was a “cause” as contemplated by the Constitution and was subject to transfer to this court on petition for hearing. This court entertained such a petition and denied it. The power of each court to act in each instance was present and when this court denied the petition for hearing the question of the propriety of the order of recall was settled and became either the law of the case or res judicata. Thereafter the appeal as to Count II was before the District Court of Appeal the same as if no judgment had been rendered by that court therein and as if no remittitur had issued. Thereafter that court reversed the judgment based on Count II. When this *493court granted a hearing the judgment of the District Court of Appeal was thereby set aside and the appeal was pending in this court the same as on original appeal and subject to disposition as such. Whatever occurred in the District Court of Appeal on the motion to recall the remittitur had been finally settled and this court should now determine the appeal on its merits.
If the petition for hearing after the decision of the District Court of Appeal in recalling the remittitur had been granted the disposition of that matter might have taken the course followed in Southwestern Inv. Corp. v. City of Los Angeles, 38 Cal.2d 623 [241 P.2d 985]. But such is not this ease. When this court denied the petition to review the order of the District Court of Appeal in recalling the remittitur the question whether the order of recall was rightly or wrongly granted faded from the case and was no longer subject to reconsideration. Notwithstanding that fact the majority now directs the District Court of Appeal to vacate its order recalling the remittitur, to reinstate its original judgment and to affirm the judgment of the trial court.
It should be remembered that this court has no appellate jurisdiction as such over the judgments of the District Courts of Appeal. The method of review is by petition for hearing. In the absence of an order of transfer to this court pursuant thereto, those judgments become final by operation of law. When an order of transfer is entered the appeal is then pending not in the District Court of Appeal but in this court for determination. The majority opinion states that the District Court of Appeal “lost jurisdiction” of the appeal upon the issuance of the remittitur and was without jurisdiction to recall it. That question was inherent in the petition for hearing in this court to set aside the order recalling the remittitur and has long since become final. It' is not a matter for review on the appeal from the judgment, which is the only matter now before us.
Further confusion is infused into the law by calling the order of the District Court of Appeal in recalling the remittitur an “interlocutory order.” Such an order is one that imports a lack of finality in the disposition of the matter involved. Here the question of the finality of the order of recall became final and the order can in no sense be deemed “interlocutory.” That term has a well known and definite meaning, usually provided for by statute, and has no application to a final disposition of the appeal now before us.
*494On the merits the record supports the judgment and it should be affirmed by order of this court.
McComb, J., concurred.