Opinion

Le Francois v. Goel

  • 29 Cal. Rptr. 3d 249
  • 35 Cal. 4th 1094
  • 112 P.3d 636
Court
California Supreme Court
Filed
Jun 10, 2005
Status
Published
Author
Kennard
On the bench
Chin, Kennard
Cited by
81 cases
Authority
More cited than 11.0%

The opinion

KENNARD, J.,

Concurring and Dissenting.—I agree with the majority’s holding that Code of Civil Procedure sections 437c, subdivision (f)(2), and 1008 prohibit only a party from renewing a motion or moving for reconsideration without new facts or law, and that these provisions do not limit a court’s ability to reconsider and correct error in a prior interim order. I also agree generally with the majority’s analysis in support of that holding.

But I do not agree with the majority’s disposition reversing the Court of Appeal’s judgment, which in turn had affirmed the trial court’s summary judgment. As the majority holds, a trial court may properly reconsider an earlier ruling denying summary judgment and make a new ruling granting summary judgment. Although the trial court here erred insofar as it purported to act on a party’s motion rather than on its own motion, this procedural error does not affect the judgment’s validity. A legally correct ruling will not be reversed on appeal merely because the trial court erred in its reasoning *1110 (People v. Smithey (1999) 20 Cal.4th 936, 972 [ 86 Cal.Rptr.2d 243 , 978 P.2d 1171 ]; D’Amico v. Board of Medical Examiners (1974) 11 Cal.3d 1, 19 [ 112 Cal.Rptr. 786 , 520 P.2d 10 ]), and a trial court’s judgment may not be set aside for procedural error unless the error has resulted in a miscarriage of justice (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 13). Because no miscarriage of justice has been demonstrated here, I would affirm.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.