Appeals From California Superior Courts

Two Appellate Paths

Matters within Court of Appeal jurisdiction, including unlimited civil and felony appeals, proceed to the California Court of Appeal for the district that serves the county of trial.

Limited civil, misdemeanor, and infraction appeals proceed to the appellate division of the superior court in which the case was heard.

These are separate reviewing courts with different jurisdiction, rules, filing systems, forms, and procedures.

• California Appeals Before the Courts of Appeal
• California Superior Court Appellate Divisions

The Six Appellate Districts and the Counties They Serve

California is divided by statute into six appellate districts. The Courts of Appeal publish the current assignment of counties to districts; as of this site's research date it is as follows.

• First Appellate District (San Francisco; Divisions One through Five): Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma Counties.
• Second Appellate District (Los Angeles and Ventura; Divisions One through Eight): Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties. Division Six sits in Ventura and hears the matters from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties; the remaining divisions sit in Los Angeles.
• Third Appellate District (Sacramento; one division): Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, and Yuba Counties.
• Fourth Appellate District (three geographically separate divisions): Division One in San Diego generally hears matters from San Diego and Imperial Counties; Division Two in Riverside from Riverside, San Bernardino, and Inyo Counties; and Division Three in Santa Ana from Orange County.
• Fifth Appellate District (Fresno; one division): Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Tuolumne Counties.
• Sixth Appellate District (San Jose; one division): Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties.

In the First District, cases from all twelve counties are distributed among the five San Francisco divisions rather than by county. In the Second and Fourth Districts, the county of trial determines the division, subject to transfer between divisions within the district.

• California Courts of Appeal — District MapCalifornia Courts of Appeal appellate.courts.ca.gov
• California Courts of AppealCalifornia Courts of Appeal appellate.courts.ca.gov

The Appellate Process Begins in the Superior Court

Whichever reviewing court will decide the appeal, the notice of appeal is filed in the superior court, and the superior court's appeals unit prepares and certifies the clerk's transcript and transmits the record. Each of the 58 superior courts organizes that work differently, and each has its own local rules and electronic-filing requirements.

• Filing a Notice of Appeal in California
• Preparing the Appellate Record in California
• Clerk's and Reporter's Transcripts in California

Statewide Rules, District Rules, and Local Rules

Title 8 of the California Rules of Court supplies the governing appellate framework for every district. Each Court of Appeal district then publishes local rules, standing orders, and practice guidance of its own — on record designation, electronic formatting, extensions, oral argument, and other matters — and each superior court's local rules govern the trial-court side of the appeal.

For that reason, three layers of authority can apply to a single California appeal: the statewide rules, the district's local rules, and the county's local rules.

• California Rules of Court — Appellate RulesJudicial Council of California courts.ca.gov

California Appeals Before the Courts of Appeal

Writ Proceedings

Extraordinary writ petitions follow a related but different jurisdictional path. A petition seeking review of a superior court ruling is presented to the Court of Appeal for the district serving that county, and the Supreme Court of California also exercises original writ jurisdiction.

California Writ Petitions