Wednesday, August 12, 2015
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Brown Signs Bill on Evidentiary Objections in Summary Judgment
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation that frees trial judges from having to rule on every evidentiary objection raised in a summary judgment proceeding.
The governor Monday signed Senate Bill 470. The legislation, authored by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, was proposed by the Judicial Council and the California Judges Association following a recommendation last year by the Judicial Council’s Policy Coordination and Liaison Committee, Civil and Small Claims Committee and Appellate Advisory Committee, which concluded that too much judicial time was being unnecessarily taken up with such objections.
The bill, which was also backed by the California Chamber of Commerce and the Civil Justice Association of California, adds Code of Civil Procedure §437c(q), reading as follows:
“In granting or denying a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication, the court need rule only on those objections to evidence that it deems material to its disposition of the motion. Objections to evidence that are not ruled on for purposes of the motion shall be preserved for appellate review.”
The legislation essentially codifies, and expands upon, Reid v. Google, Inc. (2010) 50 Cal.4th 512, which held that if a trial court fails to rule expressly on specific evidentiary objections, it is presumed that the objections have been overruled, the trial court considered the evidence in ruling on the merits of the summary judgment motion, and the objections are preserved on appeal.
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