Court Opinion

ID: 9628970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:35:08.423549+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:13.872672
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J.
I dissent.
I agree that the photographs would be privileged if taken for the purpose of transmittal to defendant’s counsel for use in litigation, but as I pointed out in my dissent in Holm v. Superior Court, ante, p. 500 [267 P.2d 1025, 268 P.2d 722], the burden of proof on that issue rested upon defendant, the claimant of the privilege. The trial court was justified in concluding, as it did, that that burden had not been sustained because it could disbelieve the affidavits supplied by defendant even though uneontradicted. “A trial judge is not required to accept as true the sworn testimony of a witness, even in the absence of evidence directly contradicting it, and this rule applies to an affidavit.” (Lohman v. Lohmam, 29 Cal.2d 144, 149 [173 P.2d 657]; see, also, other cases cited in Holm v. Superior Court, supra.) The rule is especially applicable in this case since the affidavit is by one of defendant’s attorneys, hardly in a position to be unbiased. The majority opinion, however, determines the credibility of the affidavit contrary to the trial court, thus usurping its power.
I would therefore deny the writ.