Appellate Law

Preserving issues on appeal: Woods v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.

By Kimberly A. Kralowec

The Court of Appeal's opinion in Woods v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Apr. 15, 2008; pub. ord. Apr. 28, 2008), begins with this paragraph:

Plaintiff Raymond A. Woods appeals from a judgment entered following the grant of a directed verdict in favor of defendant Union Pacific Railroad Company. We affirm the judgment. Plaintiff also appeals from the order awarding defendant ordinary costs and expert fees and costs. Inasmuch as plaintiff has presented no arguments with respect to this order, we deem plaintiff?s appeal from the order to have been abandoned and affirm the order. (Tiernan v. Trustees of Cal. State University & Colleges (1982) 33 Cal.3d 211, 216, fn. 4; Reyes v. Kosha (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 451, 466, fn. 6.)

Slip op. at 2. In other words, make sure your brief addresses all the orders encompassed by your notice of appeal.

Full post as published by The Appellate Practitioner on April 30, 2008 (boomark / email).