Appellate Law

Evidentiary objections and Biljac

By Kimberly A. Kralowec

On November 29, 2007, the Daily Journal had a very interesting article (subscription) addressing two recent decisions that have revived the debate over whether Biljac Assoc. v. First Interstate Bank, 218 Cal.App.3d 1410 (1990) has been overruled. The two recent decisions are Demps v. San Francisco Housing Authority, 149 Cal.App.4th 564 (2007) (expressly overruling Biljac, a decision of the same district and division) and Reid v. Google Inc., 155 Cal.App.4th 1342 (2007) (holding that Biljac remains good law). The article concludes:

What remains certain is that Reid has breathed new life into the seemingly moribund Biljac decision and reawakened a conflict that, though dormant, had not been put to rest. It is difficult to predict whether the California Supreme Court will resolve this conflict affirmatively, because arguably it has spoken on this issue in [two cases]. In the meantime, lawyers can mitigate the uncertainty that exists in the case law by making every effort to obtain express rulings on evidentiary objections so that the objections are preserved on appeal.

Full post as published by The Appellate Practitioner on December 03, 2007 (boomark / email).