Few lawyers other than those of the appellate variety have much interest in appealability issues. However, the Supreme Court is interested and a good 
appealability issue might win you a rare entrée to review in that court.
Just this week, the court decided an appealability issue in Kurwa v. Kislinger, and that was the second time it had opted to do so in just that one case. Both times, the court found jurisdictional defects, but the most recent opinion tells the parties — and especially the lower courts — how to finally get an appeal heard in the case.
Kurwa isn’t the only instance of appealability on the docket, however. Earlier this year, in Ryan v. Rosenfeld, the court decided that an order denying a statutory motion to vacate a judgment is appealable, and in Dhillon v. John Muir Health, the court held to be appealable a superior court order that granted an administrative mandate petition’s request that the matter be remanded for proceedings before an administrative body. [Disclosure: Horvitz & Levy was appellate counsel for John Muir Health in Dhillon.] Also this year, the court granted review in K. J. v. Los Angeles Unified School District to decide whether the Court of Appeal has jurisdiction over an appeal from an order imposing sanctions on an attorney if the notice of appeal is brought in the name of the client rather than in the name of the attorney.
Appealability in criminal cases can also get the court’s attention. Two years ago, the court in People v. Loper held a prisoner can appeal a superior court order rejecting a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recommendation that the prisoner’s sentence be recalled and that he be granted compassionate release based on his medical condition.
So, if you’re on the wrong end of a Court of Appeal appealability decision, don’t give up. You might find a receptive audience at the Supreme Court.
