Miscellaneous developments Wednesday night
Tomorrow's Daily Journal has a story, "Prop. 64 Ruling," on Branick v. Downey Sav. & Loan. Tomorrow's Recorder also has an article: "Second District Has Its Say on Prop 64—Finds it's Retroactive."

Timely enough, today's Recorder had a practice article called "Looking Back, Moving Forward," which vigorously attacks the legal basis for the First District's decision in CDR v. Mervyn's.

The Alameda County Superior Court's website indicates that Judge Sabraw issued another tentative ruling today in at least two of the cases scheduled for hearing tomorrow. (Thanks to the reader who sent me that tip.) I haven't seen a copy of the new tentative, but the docket entry for Foundation Aiding the Elderly v. Covenant Care, Inc. says that the motion for judgment on the pleadings is tentatively denied—which would represent a 180-degree reversal of the prior tentative. I first learned about this development in the morning, before the Branick decision was posted this afternoon, so now I'd say all bets are off. I'm going to try to attend tomorrow morning's hearing. Meanwhile, please feel free to post comments and create a discussion board here about the tentative rulings, the hearing, the relative merits of the courts' reasoning in CDR and Branick, or any other developments.

UPDATE: Here's some food for thought. Suppose a trial judge disagrees with the Branick court's analysis of the "statutory repeal" rule. The trial judge believes, however, that the voters intended Prop. 64 to apply retroactively, and that Prop. 64's amendments are procedural only. Given the split between the Districts, is the trial judge free to embrace Branick's ultimate holding—that Prop. 64 applies to pending cases—but for reasons that Branick did not consider and that the court in CDR v. Mervyn's specifically rejected?

- posted by Kim Kralowec @ 8:59 PM