Geddes v. Superior Court

In Geddes v. Superior Court (2005) 126 Cal.App.4th 417, a judgment entered on an order granting summary judgment was reversed because the trial court had failed to state the reasons for, and cite the evidence supporting, its decision in favor of the defendant. On remand, the plaintiff filed a Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 challenge, which was granted. The defendant filed a petition for a writ of mandate, which the Court of Appeal granted. The court found that the remand did not require any retrial of the merits of the motion for summary judgment, but only the performance of the procedure required by section 437c, subdivision (g). (Geddes, supra, 126 Cal.App.4th at p. 424.) The court found that the procedural error that gave rise to the remand did not require a new trial within the meaning of section 170.6, subdivision (a)(2) and that, accordingly, the trial court erred in granting it. (Id. at pp. 424-425.)