• Appellate Procedure,  Briefing,  California Procedure,  Family Law,  Standard of Review

    Failure to Brief and the Bounds of Discretion

    Two interesting, though not new, appellate angles in Nakamura v. Parker, case no. A115626 (1st Dist. Oct. 22, 2007). It’s an appeal from the summary denial of a temporary restraining order sought under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (Fam. Code, ยง 6200 et seq.), which had the effect of dismissing the appellant’s entire action. First Issue: Respondent did not file a brief in the appeal. Automatic reversal, right? Wrong. While many people — at least among those who don’t practice in appeals — assume that failure to file a respondent’s brief will mean an automatic win for the appellant, that’s not the case. Appeals are all about reviewing for error.…