This decision holds that a Court of Appeal may make a writ petition a “cause” and issue a decision in that cause establishing precedent by denying the petition even though the Court of Appeal never issued an order to show cause or hold oral argument. The case involved an exigent issue that had confused trial courts in criminal cases after passage of Proposition 57. The Court of Appeal had received multiple writ petitions. It informed both parties that it might act summarily and it invited full briefing. And it assumed jurisdiction over the merits of the petition and told the parties it was doing so. This was enough to allow the ensuing decision to be entitled to precedential value and become law of the particular case from which the petition arose.
California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 2 (Ramirez, P.J.); March 13, 2017; 2017 WL 963175