Kimberly Kralowec reports at The Appellate Practitioner:

Within the past seven days, the Ninth Circuit has issued two orders asking the California Supreme Court to rule on controlling legal questions pursuant to California Rule of Court 8.548[.]

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Such orders are relatively rare, so it is rather unusual to see two issued within five days of each other. There is no overlap on the panels.

Unusual, indeed.

Professor Martin says the request in one of the cases is particularly polite and respectful.  I’m sure the Ninth is hoping for a better response than they got last October!