Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.254 · Article 4. Hearing and Decision in the Court of Appeal
New Authorities
Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
(a) Letter to court
If a party learns of significant new authority, including new legislation, that was not available in time to be included in the last brief that the party filed or could have filed, the party may inform the Court of Appeal of this authority by letter.
(b) Form and content
The letter may provide only a citation to the new authority and identify, by citation to a page or pages in a brief on file, the issue on appeal to which the new authority is relevant. No argument or other discussion of the authority is permitted in the letter.
(c) Service and filing
The letter must be served and filed before the court files its opinion and as soon as possible after the party learns of the new authority. If the letter is served and filed after oral argument is heard, it may address only new authority that was not available in time to be addressed at oral argument.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
History
Rule 8.254 adopted effective July 1, 2012.
Advisory Committee Comment
This rule does not preclude a party from asking the presiding justice for permission to file supplemental briefing under rule 8.200(a)(4). A letter filed under this rule does not change the date of submission under rule 8.256.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/eight/rule8_254
- Text hash
- sha256 271c214869602aebc961eee46505e8df8cea342f1c72ed193057562fdb6e5d6b
- Composed by
- compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph
This rule cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.