2024 California Rules of Court
Rule 8.1120. Requesting publication of unpublished opinions
(a) Request
(1) Any person may request that an unpublished opinion be ordered published.
(2) The request must be made by a letter to the court that rendered the opinion, concisely stating the person's interest and the reason why the opinion meets a standard for publication.
(3) The request must be delivered to the rendering court within 20 days after the opinion is filed.
(4) The request must be served on all parties.
(b) Action by rendering court
(1) If the rendering court does not or cannot grant the request before the decision is final in that court, it must forward the request to the Supreme Court with a copy of its opinion, its recommendation for disposition, and a brief statement of its reasons. The rendering court must forward these materials within 15 days after the decision is final in that court.
(2) The rendering court must also send a copy of its recommendation and reasons to all parties and any person who requested publication.
(c) Action by Supreme Court
The Supreme Court may order the opinion published or deny the request. The court must send notice of its action to the rendering court, all parties, and any person who requested publication.
(d) Effect of Supreme Court order to publish
A Supreme Court order to publish is not an expression of the court's opinion of the correctness of the result of the decision or of any law stated in the opinion.
Rule 8.1120 renumbered effective January 1, 2007; repealed and adopted as rule 978 effective January 1, 2005.
Advisory Committee Comment
Subdivision (a). This rule previously required generally that a publication request be made "promptly," but in practice the term proved so vague that requests were often made after the Court of Appeal had lost jurisdiction. To assist persons intending to request publication and to give the Court of Appeal adequate time to act, this rule was revised to specify that the request must be made within 20 days after the opinion is filed. The change is substantive.
Subdivision (b). This rule previously did not specify the time within which the Court of Appeal was required to forward to the Supreme Court a publication request that it had not or could not have granted. In practice, however, it was not uncommon for the court to forward such a request after the Supreme Court had denied a petition for review in the same case or, if there was no such petition, had lost jurisdiction to grant review on its own motion. To assist the Supreme Court in timely processing publication requests, therefore, this rule was revised to require the Court of Appeal to forward the request within 15 days after the decision is final in that court. The change is substantive.