Reports on last week's oral argument on Prop. 64
As I mentioned here, last Thursday the Fourth Appellate District, Division One, heard oral argument in Thornton v. Computer Education Inst., Inc., case no. D044598. I received a couple of reports on the argument. One attendee wrote in:

Both [parties'] counsel stated that in light of Lytwyn and Benson and Bivens, Prop 64's retroactivity appears to be settled law in this district. Justice Aaron, who was on both opinions did not disagree, nor did anyone on the panel, including Chief Justice McConnell. It was clear from the way the issues were argued and dealt with that the panel agreed that the issue is settled law now in this district.

Another attendee reported:

It was obvious from their comments that the court is going to dismiss the claims of the unaffected plaintiff and remand with leave to amend the claims of the injured plaintiffs. In fact, the court didn't even want comments except to discuss the amendment issue.

Given that the Fourth Appellate District, Division Three, did not even bother to publish its opinion in Boling v. Michael Santa Maria last week, it does appear that the Fourth District (or at least Divisions One and Three of that District) views the retroactivity issue as settled. However, at least one pending case (Duran v. Superior Court (May Dept. Stores), no. E037693) would allow Division Two to weigh in. Many thanks to the readers who sent in those reports. UPDATE: A few hours after I put up this post, the Fourth Appellate District, Division Two, denied the petition for review in Duran.
- posted by Kim Kralowec @ 7:32 AM