California Law References — General Civil Practice

California Law References — General Civil Practice

This skill is a matter-neutral reference index — a pointer to the statutes, rules, and doctrines most often invoked in California civil practice across any subject matter. The body below summarizes each source. Detailed sections, elements, and citation examples live in references/.

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. These notes are drafting aids, not legal advice. Every citation should be verified against the current CCP, current court rule, or current case law before it goes into a filing. Use ca-fact-check before any packet is filed.

How to use this skill

Ask: what is the user trying to establish procedurally?

• A procedural motion (demurrer, motion to strike, motion to compel, summary judgment, default, vacate) → start with references/civil-rules.md
• An evidentiary objection (hearsay, authentication, best evidence, foundation, privilege) → start with references/evidence-rules.md
• A fee-and-cost request or objection → start with references/fees-and-costs.md
• A local-rule question (LASC, SFSC, OCSC, or other Superior Court local rules) → start with references/local-rules.md
• Citation format → references/citation-format.md
• Canonical URL or citation verification → start with references/online-sources.md and hand off to ca-fact-check for per-filing verification
• Programmatic / structured lookup (California codes XML, USC XML, eCFR API, CourtListener for cite-checking, bulk extraction, change detection) → references/legal-data-apis.md. Prefer the APIs listed there over HTML scraping when the result will be parsed
• A general civil case (SJ standard, lodestar, default vacation, collateral source) → start with references/key-cases.md
• Subject-matter law (FDCPA, Rosenthal Act, UCL, CLRA, FDBPA, landlord-tenant, family, PI) → use the relevant subject-matter skill (e.g., ca-consumer-debt for debt collection)

California civil rules

California civil practice draws on three overlapping rule sets:

1. California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) — the primary procedural statute; covers pleadings, service, motions, discovery, trial, judgment, and post-judgment. Enacted by the Legislature; codified at Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 307–1062.

2. California Rules of Court (CRC) — promulgated by the Judicial Council under Cal. Const. art. VI, § 6. CRC Title 2 covers trial court rules; CRC Title 3 covers civil rules in detail. CRC governs format (CRC 2.100-2.119), case management (CRC 3.700-3.770), and motion practice (CRC 3.1100-3.1390).

3. Local rules — each Superior Court adopts local rules under CRC 3.20, limited to matters not covered by the CRC. Los Angeles Superior Court (LASC), San Francisco Superior Court (SFSC), and Orange County Superior Court (OCSC) have the most extensive local rule sets.

Key CCP provisions at a glance:

• CCP § 412.20 — Service of summons; required contents
• CCP § 413.10 — Manner of service; personal, substituted, mail (with notice and acknowledgment)
• CCP § 415.20 — Substituted service (dwelling, office)
• CCP § 417.10 — Proof of service; date service complete
• CCP § 430.10 — Grounds for demurrer to complaint
• CCP § 430.30 — Timing for demurrer
• CCP § 431.30 — Contents of answer; general / specific denial; affirmative defenses
• CCP § 435 — Motion to strike (improper matter or matter not drawn in conformity with law)
• CCP § 437c — Summary judgment/adjudication (the keystone provision for pre-trial dispositive motions)
• CCP §§ 1010-1020 — Notices and motions (general)
• CCP §§ 2016.010-2036.050 — Civil Discovery Act of 1986 (interrogatories, depositions, document production, RFAs, physical/mental examinations, experts)
• CCP §§ 583.110-583.430 — Time to bring an action to trial (mandatory/discretionary dismissal for delay)
• CCP §§ 664-681 — Judgments; entry, renewal, enforcement
• CCP §§ 683.010-708.320 — Enforcement of judgments

See references/civil-rules.md for provision-by-provision coverage.

California Evidence Code (CEC)

The CEC is codified in Cal. Evid. Code §§ 1-1605 and enacted by the Legislature (unlike the Federal Rules of Evidence, which are court rules). Key provisions for civil practice:

• Cal. Evid. Code § 350 — Relevance
• Cal. Evid. Code § 352 — Exclusion for prejudice / confusion
• Cal. Evid. Code §§ 900-1070 — Privileges (attorney-client, physician-patient, psychotherapist, spousal, trade secret, etc.)
• Cal. Evid. Code §§ 1200-1390 — Hearsay; key exceptions:
  • § 1220 — Party admission
  • § 1271 — Business records (records made in the regular course of business by persons with knowledge)
  • § 1280 — Official records / public records
  • § 1310 — Statement by decedent
  • § 1370 — Threat statement
• Cal. Evid. Code §§ 1400-1454 — Authentication and identification; § 1421 — authentication by content
• Cal. Evid. Code §§ 1500-1567 — Secondary evidence rule (California's analog to the best-evidence rule)

Important CEC/FRE distinctions: California enumerates hearsay exceptions in detail; there is no FRE 807-style residual exception. The CEC § 1271 business-records foundation mirrors FRE 803(6) closely but differs in exact language. California privileges (§§ 900-1070) are broader and more numerous than federal common-law privilege doctrine.

See references/evidence-rules.md for rule-by-rule coverage and the business-records / authentication patterns most common in civil practice.

Fees and costs

California follows the American Rule as its baseline: each party bears its own attorney fees absent statute, contract, or other legal authority. Trope v. Katz (1995) 11 Cal.4th 274, 278.

Key cost-recovery provisions:

• CCP § 1032 — Prevailing party is entitled to costs as a matter of right in most civil actions; "prevailing party" defined broadly to include judgment creditors and parties whose claims or defenses are dismissed with prejudice
• CCP § 1033.5 — Allowable items: filing fees, service costs, deposition costs, jury fees, witness fees (incl. expert witness fees where court-ordered), interpreter fees, models, blowups. Not allowable: ordinary photocopying, postage, attorney travel, consultant fees
• Civ. Code § 1717 — Reciprocal fee-shifting in contract actions: when a contract provides attorney fees to one side, the prevailing party on either side recovers under the clause
• CCP § 1021.5 — Private attorney general fees: available when the action enforces an important right affecting the public interest, a significant benefit accrues to the public or class, and the necessity and financial burden of private enforcement make a fee award appropriate
• CCP § 998 — Offer to compromise: if a plaintiff rejects a defendant's § 998 offer and fails to obtain a more favorable judgment, the plaintiff must pay post-offer costs including expert witness fees; reciprocal if defendant rejects plaintiff's offer

See references/fees-and-costs.md for full coverage, the lodestar method, CCP § 1033.5 allowable-costs detail, and sample memorandum of costs language.

Local rules

Each California Superior Court adopts its own local rules within the limits set by CRC 3.20. Rules address case assignment, trial management, ex parte applications, discovery motions, and ADR.

• LASC (Los Angeles Superior Court) — the largest trial court in the nation; LASC Local Rules govern via lacourt.org
• SFSC (San Francisco Superior Court) — sfsuperiorcourt.org; Presiding Department for civil case management
• OCSC (Orange County Superior Court) — occourts.org; complex litigation department
• Other populous counties — San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, etc.

See references/local-rules.md for the high-volume courts, local rule structure, and motions calendaring mechanics.

Citation format

California uses the California Style Manual (CSM), published by the Judicial Council. California citations diverge from Bluebook in notation, comma placement, and statute format:

Case: Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826

Statute: Code Civ. Proc., § 437c (note the comma and the §)

Rule: Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1308

Unpublished opinions are generally not citable under CRC 8.1115.

See references/citation-format.md for complete patterns, parallel cites, short forms, and comparison to Bluebook.

Canonical online sources

references/online-sources.md is the AI-agent-friendly catalog of canonical URLs for:

• California court rules (CRC, local rules) — courts.ca.gov
• California Codes (CCP, CEC, Civ. Code, etc.) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
• Case opinions — courts.ca.gov/opinions
• Judicial Council forms — courts.ca.gov/forms
• eCFR (for federal regulations)
• Cornell LII (for U.S.C. sections)
• CourtListener and Google Scholar (for case law)
• LASC, SFSC, OCSC county court websites

The catalog is the only approved fetch source for verification work. Per the plugin's safety policy, WebFetch is the only mechanism used — no curl, wget, Python requests, or other bypasses are permitted. See ca-fact-check for the per-filing verification workflow.

Key general-civil cases

references/key-cases.md catalogs the general-civil cases this plugin relies on most:

• SJ standard: Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826 (burden-shifting framework for summary judgment under CCP § 437c)
• Collateral source rule: Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions (2011) 52 Cal.4th 541 (injured plaintiff recovers only amounts actually billed and paid, not full reasonable value)
• FEHA: Reid v. Google, Inc. (2010) 50 Cal.4th 512 (stray-remarks doctrine in employment discrimination)
• Parol evidence: Riverisland Cold Storage, Inc. v. Fresno-Madera Production Credit Assn. (2013) 55 Cal.4th 1169 (fraud exception to parol evidence rule)
• Premises liability: Wiener v. Southcoast Childcare Centers, Inc. (2004) 32 Cal.4th 1138 (duty of care; foreseeability)

Subject-matter cases — FDCPA, Rosenthal Act, UCL, CLRA, business-records foundation in debt cases, chain-of-title — live alongside their subject-matter bundle (e.g., ca-consumer-debt/references/key-cases.md).

Notes

• These references are neutral summaries. They do not tell the user whether they win or lose.
• Always verify a case before citing — California case law has evolved on several doctrines (SJ burden, collateral source, business-records foundation, § 998 offers).
• For federal law, check the most recent Ninth Circuit opinion where controlling in federal court; California state courts treat Ninth Circuit federal-statute interpretations as persuasive.
• Before filing, run ca-fact-check against the packet to catch fabricated, misquoted, or superseded citations.

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Generated content is a drafting aid; verify against current rules and case law before filing.