Ryan v. Rosenfeld, S232582

Appeal: Dismissal: Motion to vacate: Postjudgment orders:

Is the denial of a motion to vacate the judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 663 separately appealable?

Section 663 of the Code of Civil Procedure allows an aggrieved party in a civil case to move the trial court to vacate its final judgment. The question in this case is whether an order denying one of those motions is appealable even if it raises issues that could have been litigated via an appeal of the judgment. We answered yes to this question over a century ago. (See Bond v. United Railroads (1911) 159 Cal. 270, 273 (Bond).) Bond held that the statute authorizing appeals of postjudgment orders covered denials of section 663 motions.

The current version of that statute allows for the appeal of an order made after an appealable judgment. (Code Civ. Proc., § 904.1, subd. (a)(2).)

Orders denying motions to vacate under section 663 fit that description, and this court has always interpreted the language currently found in section 904.1, subdivision (a)(2), to make appealable all section 663 denials. The Legislature has done nothing to undermine or overturn that interpretation despite enacting over a dozen other changes to this very statutory scheme. So the rule announced in Bond remains valid.

(Here Ryan later filed a notice of appeal for both the order dismissing the case and the order denying his motion to vacate the judgment).

(Rosenfeld has argued in this court that Ryan‘s motion to vacate was improper because the motion did not seek entry of a judgment different from the one that was entered. We do not address this question, which may bear on whether Ryan filed a proper section 663 motion. The Court of Appeal may address the question on remand – fn. 1).

Secondary sources: Witkin, Cal. Procedure (5th ed. 2008) Appeal, § 200, p. 277; Eisenberg et al., Cal. Practice Guide: Civil Appeals and Writs (2014), p. 2-123.

(Cal.S.C. June 15, 2017, Ryan v. Rosenfeld, S232582).

Un jugement civil est entré en force, puis la partie perdante demande son annulation, par exemple par le biais d'une "motion to vacate" (Section 663 du Code californien de procédure civile). Si le Juge rejette dite motion, un appel peut-il être déposé (au sens de la Section 904.1, subd. (a)(2) du Code) ? La réponse est affirmative, même si les arguments à l'appui de l'appel auraient pu être plaidés dans le cadre d'un appel contre le premier jugement, entré en force. Plus généralement, tous les rejets de requêtes selon la Section 663 peuvent faire l'objet d'un appel.

Tel en a décidé la Cour Suprême de Californie dans une décision de 1911 déjà, confirmée ici, et qui n'a pas été modifiée à ce jour. Le législateur n'est pour sa part pas intervenu à cet égard.

P. v. Martinez, S199495

Plea bargain and deportation (California): Penal Code section 1016.5 requires that before accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to any criminal offense, the trial court must advise the defendant that if he or she is not a United States citizen, conviction of the offense may result in deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United States.  (Pen. Code, § 1016.5, subd. (a).)  If the advisement was not given, and the defendant shows that conviction of the offense to which he or she pleaded guilty or nolo contendere may result in adverse immigration consequences, the court, on the defendant’s motion, is required to vacate the judgment and permit the defendant to withdraw his or her plea and enter a plea of not guilty.  (Id., subd. (b).)  Relief will be granted, however, only if the defendant establishes prejudice.  (People v. Superior Court (Zamudio) (2000) 23 Cal.4th 183, 210 (Zamudio).)  As we explained in Zamudio, prejudice is shown if the defendant establishes it was reasonably probable he or she would not have pleaded guilty if properly advised.  (Ibid.)

We granted review to consider whether a court ruling on a motion to vacate pursuant to section 1016.5 may deny relief, for lack of prejudice, if it concludes the defendant would not have obtained a more favorable outcome had he or she chosen not to plead guilty or nolo contendere.  We hold that because the question is what the defendant would have done, relief should be granted if the court, after considering evidence offered by the parties relevant to that question, determines the defendant would have chosen not to plead guilty or nolo contendere, even if the court also finds it not reasonably probable the defendant would thereby have obtained a more favorable outcome. Having so concluded, we also consider whether, as defendant contends, the court ruling on the motion may consider a claim that the defendant would have rejected the existing plea bargain to attempt to negotiate a bargain that would not result in deportation, a denial of naturalization, or exclusion from admission to the United States, or if, as the Attorney General contends, relief is available only if the defendant would have rejected the plea bargain to go to trial.  We hold relief is available if the defendant establishes he or she would have rejected the existing bargain to accept or attempt to negotiate another.

Because the trial court in this case denied relief on the ground there was no reasonable probability defendant would have obtained a more favorable result by rejecting the plea bargain, which is not the test for prejudice, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal affirming the trial court’s order denying relief and direct it to remand the matter to the trial court to conduct further proceedings consistent with our opinion here (Cal. S. Ct., 08.08.2013, P. v. Martinez, S199495).

Peine pénale négociée et expulsion des Etats-Unis : état du droit californien à ce sujet : le Code pénal de l’état prévoit qu’avant que le prévenu n’accepte un plea bargain ou avant qu’il n’accepte de plaider « nolo contendere », il doit être informé par le Tribunal que s’il n’est pas un citoyen des Etats-Unis, un jugement condamnatoire est susceptible d’entraîner une expulsion, une exclusion d’admission sur le territoire U.S., ou un refus de naturalisation. Si ces informations n’ont pas été données et que le condamné parvient à démontrer que le jugement condamnatoire est susceptible de lui porter préjudice au sens de ce qui précède (expulsion, refus d’entrée, refus de naturalisation), le Tribunal doit, à la demande du condamné, annuler le jugement et permettre au prévenu de retirer son plea, tout en l’autorisant à plaider non coupable. Ces remèdes ne seront accordés au condamné que s’il établit un préjudice. Le préjudice est démontré à satisfaction si le condamné peut établir qu’il était raisonnablement probable qu’il n’aurait pas plaidé coupable s’il avait été informé correctement des conséquences.

L’élément décisif pour accorder l’annulation du jugement est de déterminer ce que le condamné aurait fait si les informations précitées lui avaient été données. Il est sans importance que le jugement aurait été le même dans l’hypothèse où le prévenu n’avait pas plaidé coupable.

De même, le jugement doit être annulé si le condamné non informé peut établir que si les informations lui avaient été données, il aurait rejeté l’accord en question pour tenter d’en négocier un autre ou pour en accepter un autre.