Hot off the presses: Court of Appeal decision in United Investors v. Waddell & Reed, Inc.
This afternoon, the Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Five) issued its eagerly-anticipated decision in United Investors Life Ins. Co. v. Waddell & Reed, Inc., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Jan. 20, 2005). As predicted by the reader whose summary of the oral argument I posted here, the Court did not decide the Prop. 64 retroactivity question. Instead, in denying the defendant's motion to dismiss the appeal, the Court held that United Investors is an "aggrieved" party with appellate-level standing, regardless of whether Prop. 64 stripped away its trial-level standing:

[T]he Courts of Appeal have refused to dismiss appeals on the ground the appellate court might ultimately determine the appellant did not have standing to assert its claims in the trial court. .... Even if plaintiff has no authority to maintain its suit in superior court, it is sufficiently aggrieved by the dismissal of its complaint that it has standing to appeal under Code of Civil Procedure section 902.

(Slip op. at 5-6.) It is unclear at this point whether this decision will impact any of the other pending appeals in which the Prop. 64 retroactivity issue has been raised. Many thanks to the reader who wrote in to alert me to this decision.
- posted by Kim Kralowec @ 3:41 PM