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Name: People v. Garcia
Case #: F034831
District 5 DCA
Opinion Date: 04/15/2002
Subsequent History: Rev. denied 7/24/02.
Summary

The Fifth District Court of Appeal signals the bar that it will likely see an increase, in both civil and criminal cases, of the use of memorandum opinions, which are “opinions with little or no reference to the evidence or the procedural history of the action and with an abbreviated discussion of the relevant legal issues and authorities.” “A meticulously crafted but unpublished legal essay, replete with extended analyses of law and expositions of reasoning and which distinguishes authorities and responds to every nuance of argument in the parties’ briefs, requires the devotion of a share of the Court of Appeal’s limited human and material resources far out of proportion to the utility of the effort.” “Of course, an adequate abbreviated opinion must not mask an inadequate abbreviated appellate review. A memorandum opinion, no matter its format, should represent the end-product of an internal evaluation by the court and its staff sufficient to insure that the disposition reflects the correct legal result. Ordinarily, the process will include substantiation of the material facts cited by the parties and confirmation of the controlling law, whether or not cited by the parties, and a thorough analysis of the arguments of the parties based upon the material facts and the applicable law.”