Justice Wiley's brevity doesn't always work for me. But sometimes it lands exceptionally well. This opinion is an example of the latter.
The case was in the Court of Appeal, went up to the California Supreme Court, and is now back down. In the California Supremes, the majority opinion reversed and remanded, and Justice Kruger wrote a fairly detailed concurring opinion. So now the case is back in the Court of Appeal. Hence the current opinion.
Here's the first paragraph of the opinion that I really liked, especially the italicized word:
"The Supreme Court remanded the case to us. We adopt Justice Kruger’s concurring analysis. (North River, supra, 18 Cal.5th at pp. 23–32.) This analysis is not binding authority, because the majority of the high court did not speak to the issue she addressed. This analysis is, however, persuasive. It is highly persuasive. We remand the case to the trial court for the decisionmaking this analysis requires."
I smiled at that one.
The final substantive paragraph of Justice Wiley's opinion also gave me a chuckle. It reads (with, again, the italics in the original):
"The prosecution argues the majority did not share Justice Kruger’s analysis. That is not what the majority wrote. Rather, the high court acknowledged Justice Kruger’s concurrence and stated the “majority opinion expresses no views on those questions.” (North River, supra, 18 Cal.5th at p. 20, fn. 5, italics added.) We interpret this to mean the majority expressed no views on those questions."
Ho ho ho. Love it.
