California Code of Civil Procedure

262. The direction or authority of a party or his or her attorney to a sheriff, in respect to the execution of process or return thereof, or to any related act or omission, is not available to discharge or excuse the sheriff from a liability for neglect or misconduct, unless it is contained in written instructions by the attorney of the party, including the signature and name of the attorney of the party, or by the party, if he or she has no attorney. Subject to subdivision (c) of Section 263, the instructions may be transmitted electronically pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 263).

262.1. A sheriff or other ministerial officer is justified in the execution of, and shall execute, all process and orders regular on their face and issued by competent authority, whatever may be the defect in the proceedings upon which they were issued.

262.2. Except as otherwise provided, the officer executing process shall, so long as he or she retains the original process, show it to any interested person, upon request. The officer shall show the process, with all papers, or electronic copies of all papers, attached, at his or her office whenever the office is open for business.

262.3. When any process remains with the sheriff unexecuted, in whole or in part, at the time of his death, resignation of office, or at the expiration of his term of office, such process shall be executed by his successor or successors in office.

262.4. If the sheriff sells real estate, under and by virtue of an execution or order of court, the sheriff, or his or her successors in office, shall execute and deliver to the purchaser or purchasers all deeds and conveyances required by law and necessary for the purpose, and those deeds and conveyances shall be valid in law as if they had been executed by the sheriff who made the sale. The deeds and conveyances may be recorded electronically pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 263) if they comply with the Electronic Recording Delivery Act of 2004 (Article 6 (commencing with Section 27390) of Chapter 6 of Part 3 of Division 2 of Title 3 of the Government Code).

262.5. Service of a paper, other than process, upon the sheriff may be made by delivering it to him or to one of his deputies, or to a person in charge of the office during office hours, or, if no such person is there, by leaving it in a conspicuous place in the office.

262.6. When the sheriff is a party to an action or proceeding, the process and orders therein, which it would otherwise be the duty of the sheriff to execute, shall be executed by the coroner of the county.

262.7. If an action is begun against a sheriff, all process and orders may be served by any person in the manner provided in this code.

262.8. Process or orders in an action or proceeding may be executed by a person residing in the county, designated by the court, or the judge thereof, and denominated an elisor, in the following cases:

(a) When the sheriff and coroner are both parties.

(b) When either of these officers is a party, and the process is against the other.

(c) When either of these officers is a party, and there is a vacancy in the office of the other, or where it appears, by affidavit, to the satisfaction of the court in which the proceeding is pending, or the judge thereof, that both of these officers are disqualified, or by reason of any bias, prejudice, or other cause would not act promptly or impartially.

262.9. When process is delivered to an elisor, he shall execute and return it in the same manner as the sheriff is required to execute similar process.

262.10. Whenever process is executed, or any act performed by a coroner or elisor, he shall receive a reasonable compensation, to be fixed by the court, to be paid by the plaintiff in case of the summoning of jurors to complete the panel, and by the person or party requiring the service in all other cases in private action. If rendered at the instance of the people, it shall be audited and paid as a county charge.

262.11. In all cases where new counties have been or may hereafter be created, and executions, orders of sale upon foreclosures of mortgages, or other process affecting specific real estate have been or may hereafter be adjudged by the final judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, to be executed by the sheriff of the county in which such real estate was originally situated, such process may be executed by the sheriff of the new county in which such real estate is found to be situated, with the like effect as if he were the sheriff of the county designated in the judgment, decree, or order of sale to execute the same.

263. (a) This chapter may be cited as the Levying Officer Electronic Transactions Act.

(b) The Legislature finds and declares that modern technologies offer alternatives to paper-based systems and provide the means to create, store, retrieve, and transmit records and documents in electronic form resulting in increased efficiency, taxpayer savings, and improved public access to levying officers. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to accommodate current and future technologies based on industry standards.

(c) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require a court or levying officer to comply with any of its provisions unless the court and the levying officer have (1) jointly determined that both the court and the sheriff's department have the resources and the technological capacity to do so, and (2) have mutually agreed to electronically act upon documents as provided in this chapter.

263.1. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following definitions:

(a) "Electronic mail" or "e-mail" means an electronic message that is sent to an e-mail address and transmitted between two or more telecommunications devices, computers, or electronic devices capable of receiving electronic messages through a local, regional, or global computer network, whether or not the message is converted to hard copy format after receipt, viewed upon transmission, or stored for later retrieval.

(b) "Electronic record" means a document or record created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means.

(c) "Electronic signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to, or logically associated with, an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic record.

(d) "Fax" is an abbreviation for "facsimile" and refers, as indicated by the context, to a facsimile transmission or to a document so transmitted.

(e) "Fax machine" means a machine that can send and receive a facsimile transmission using industry standards and includes a fax modem connected to a computer.

(f) "Fax transmission" means the electronic transmission and reconstruction of a document that prints a duplicate of the original document at the receiving end. "Fax transmission" includes, but is not limited to, the use of a facsimile machine or the process of integrating an electronic fax software application to automate the sending and receiving of a faxed document as an electronic record, in portable data format, by e-mail or similar electronic means.

(g) "Information processing system" means an electronic system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, retrieving, or processing information, but does not include a fax machine.

(h) "Instructions" and "levying officer instructions" mean a written request to a levying officer to serve process, perform a levy, execute an arrest warrant, or perform some other act.

(i) "Legal entity" means the legal form of an artificial person and includes a corporation, defunct corporation, unincorporated association, partnership, public agency, limited liability company, joint stock company or association, and limited liability partnership.

(j) "Levying officer" means the sheriff or marshal acting as a ministerial officer pursuant to Section 26608 of the Government Code.

(k) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium, or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(l) "Transmission record" means the electronic record or document printed by the sending fax machine, stating the telephone number of the receiving fax machine, the number of pages sent, the transmission time and date, and an indication of any errors in transmission.

263.2. (a) A levying officer may utilize an information processing system to create, generate, send, receive, store, display, retrieve, or process information, electronic records, and documents when based on industry standards and only to the extent that the levying officer has the resources and technological capacity to do so.

(b) If a technical problem with the levying officer's system prevents the levying officer from receiving an electronic transmission during regular business hours on a particular court day, and the electronic sender demonstrates an attempt to electronically transmit the document on that day, the levying officer shall deem the document or record as filed on that day.

263.3. Whenever the fax transmission of a document or record to a levying officer is authorized pursuant to this chapter, all of the following shall apply:

(a) A levying officer may act upon an electronic record or document transmitted by a facsimile machine in the same manner as the paper record or document upon which the electronic record or document is based.

(b) A facsimile cover sheet shall accompany the faxed record or document and include all of the following information:

(1) The name of the sender.

(2) The fax number of the sender.

(3) The name of the levying officer.

(4) The fax number of the levying officer.

(5) A description of the record or document, including its name, if any, and the number of pages.

(6) A statement directing the recipient of the faxed document or record to fax to the sender a confirmation, if true, that the fax was properly received.

(c) A person authorized to fax a record or document to the levying officer pursuant to this chapter shall do all of the following:

(1) Retain the paper version of the record or document.

(2) Print or otherwise retain a transmission record of the fax transmission.

(3) Deliver the paper version of the record, document, or transmission record to the levying officer within five days after a request to do so has been mailed to the sender by the levying officer.

(d) The levying officer shall retain the facsimile cover sheet together with the faxed record or document.

(e) The levying officer may electronically copy and store the printed cover sheet, record, or document as an electronic record.

263.4. (a) A levying officer may create, store, print, or transmit an electronic record in the place of, and in the same manner as, the paper record or document upon which the electronic record is based.

(b) An electronic record transmitted to a levying officer shall be accompanied by all of the following information:

(1) The name of the sender.

(2) The electronic address of the sender.

(3) The name of the levying officer.

(4) The electronic address or fax number of the levying officer.

(c) The person transmitting the electronic record shall do both of the following:

(1) Retain the paper version of the record or document.

(2) Deliver the paper version of the record or document to the levying officer within five days after a request to do so has been mailed to the sender by the levying officer.

(d) For the purpose of this section, "transmission" of an electronic record includes sending the electronic record included in, or in conjunction with, an electronic mail message, as defined in Section 263.1.

263.6. (a) In lieu of returning to court the paper version of an original writ of execution, the levying officer may retain the original writ or an electronic copy of the original writ and file only a return of the levying officer's actions.

(b) If the original writ is not returned to court as provided in subdivision (a), the levying officer shall retain, for not less than two years after the levying officer's return is filed with court, each of the following, as applicable:

(1) The original paper writ or digital image of the writ.

(2) The memorandum of garnishee.

(3) The employer's return.

(4) An inventory of the levied property.

(c) A creditor seeking the issuance of a writ directed to another county may direct the levying officer to file an accounting of the levying officer's actions with the court.

(1) The filing of the accounting described in this subdivision does not constitute a return of the writ.

(2) The accounting shall indicate that the levying officer is in possession of an active writ.

263.7. (a) A levying officer shall exclude or redact the following identifiers from any record or document made available to the public:

(1) Social security number.

(2) Financial account number.

(b) If an identifier is redacted, only the last four digits of the number may be used.

(c) A levying officer also shall exclude or redact the identifiers listed in subdivision (a) from any writ return filed with the court.

(d) The term "public" does not include the creditor, debtor, garnishee, or third-party claimant.

269. (a) An official reporter or official reporter pro tempore of the superior court shall take down in shorthand all testimony, objections made, rulings of the court, exceptions taken, arraignments, pleas, sentences, arguments of the attorneys to the jury, and statements and remarks made and oral instructions given by the judge or other judicial officer, in the following cases:

(1) In a civil case, on the order of the court or at the request of a party.

(2) In a felony case, on the order of the court or at the request of the prosecution, the defendant, or the attorney for the defendant.

(3) In a misdemeanor or infraction case, on the order of the court.

(b) If a transcript is ordered by the court or requested by a party, or if a nonparty requests a transcript that the nonparty is entitled to receive, regardless of whether the nonparty was permitted to attend the proceeding to be transcribed, the official reporter or official reporter pro tempore shall, within a reasonable time after the trial of the case that the court designates, write the transcripts out, or the specific portions thereof as may be requested, in plain and legible longhand, or by typewriter, or other printing machine, and certify that the transcripts were correctly reported and transcribed, and when directed by the court, file the transcripts with the clerk of the court.

(c) If a defendant is convicted of a felony, after a trial on the merits, the record on appeal shall be prepared immediately after the verdict or finding of guilt is announced unless the court determines that it is likely that no appeal from the decision will be made. The court's determination of a likelihood of appeal shall be based upon standards and rules adopted by the Judicial Council.

271. (a) Any court, party, or other person entitled to a transcript may request that it be delivered in computer-readable form, except that an original transcript shall be on paper. A copy of the original transcript ordered within 120 days of the filing or delivery of the transcript by the official reporter or official reporter pro tempore shall be delivered in computer-readable form upon request if the proceedings were produced utilizing computer-aided transcription equipment.

(b) Except as modified by standards adopted by the Judicial Council, the computer-readable transcript shall be on disks in standard ASCII code, unless otherwise agreed by the reporter and the court, party, or other person requesting the transcript. Each disk shall be labeled with the case name and court number, the dates of proceedings contained on the disk, and the page and volume numbers of the data contained on the disk. Except where modifications are necessary to reflect corrections of a transcript, each disk as produced by the official reporter shall contain the identical volume divisions, pagination, line numbering, and text of the certified original paper transcript or any portion thereof. Each disk shall be sequentially numbered within the series of disks.

273. (a) The report of the official reporter, or official reporter pro tempore, of any court, duly appointed and sworn, when transcribed and certified as being a correct transcript of the testimony and proceedings in the case, is prima facie evidence of that testimony and proceedings.

(b) The report of the official reporter, or official reporter pro tempore, of any court, duly appointed and sworn, when prepared as a rough draft transcript, shall not be certified and cannot be used, cited, distributed, or transcribed as the official certified transcript of the proceedings. A rough draft transcript shall not be cited or used in any way or at any time to rebut or contradict the official certified transcript of the proceedings as provided by the official reporter or official reporter pro tempore. The production of a rough draft transcript shall not be required.

(c) The instant visual display of the testimony or proceedings, or both, shall not be certified and cannot be used, cited, distributed, or transcribed as the official certified transcript of the proceedings. The instant visual display of the testimony or proceedings, or both, shall not be cited or used in any way or at any time to rebut or contradict the official certified transcript of the proceedings as provided by the official reporter or official reporter pro tempore.

(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends that date.

274a. Any judge of the superior court may have any opinion given or rendered by the judge in the trial of a felony case or an unlimited civil case, pending in that court, or any necessary order, petition, citation, commitment or judgment in any probate proceeding, proceeding concerning new or additional bonds of county officials or juvenile court proceeding, or the testimony or judgment relating to the custody or support of minor children in any proceeding in which the custody or support of minor children is involved, taken down in shorthand and transcribed together with such copies as the court may deem necessary by the official reporter or an official reporter pro tempore of the court.

283. An attorney and counselor shall have authority:

1. To bind his client in any of the steps of an action or proceeding by his agreement filed with the Clerk, or entered upon the minutes of the Court, and not otherwise;

2. To receive money claimed by his client in an action or proceeding during the pendency thereof, or after judgment, unless a revocation of his authority is filed, and upon the payment thereof, and not otherwise, to discharge the claim or acknowledge satisfaction of the judgment.

284. The attorney in an action or special proceeding may be changed at any time before or after judgment or final determination, as follows:

1. Upon the consent of both client and attorney, filed with the clerk, or entered upon the minutes;

2. Upon the order of the court, upon the application of either client or attorney, after notice from one to the other.

285. When an attorney is changed, as provided in the last section, written notice of the change and of the substitution of a new attorney, or of the appearance of the party in person, must be given to the adverse party. Until then he must recognize the former attorney.

285.1. An attorney of record for any party in any civil action or proceeding for dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or for a declaration of void or voidable marriage, or for the support, maintenance or custody of minor children may withdraw at any time subsequent to the time when any judgment in such action or proceeding, other than an interlocutory judgment, becomes final, and prior to service upon him of pleadings or motion papers in any proceeding then pending in said cause, by filing a notice of withdrawal. Such notice shall state (a) date of entry of final decree or judgment, (b) the last known address of such party, (c) that such attorney withdraws as attorney for such party. A copy of such notice shall be mailed to such party at his last known address and shall be served upon the adverse party.

285.2. If a reduction in public funding for legal service materially impairs a legal service agency attorney's ability to represent an indigent client, the court, on its own motion or on the motion of either the client or attorney, shall permit the withdrawal of such attorney upon a showing that all of the following apply:

(a) There are not adequate public funds to continue the effective representation of the indigent client.

(b) A good faith effort was made to find alternate representation for such client.

(c) All reasonable steps to reduce the legal prejudice to the client have been taken.

A showing of indigency of the client, in and of itself, will not be deemed sufficient cause to deny the application for withdrawal.

285.3. The court, upon the granting of a motion for withdrawal pursuant to Section 285.2, may toll the running of any statute of limitations, filing requirement, statute providing for mandatory dismissal, notice of appeal, or discovery requirement, for a period not to exceed 90 days, on the court's own motion or on motion of any party or attorney, when the court finds that tolling is required to avoid legal prejudice caused by the withdrawal of the legal service agency attorney.

285.4. The court, upon the granting of a motion for withdrawal pursuant to Section 285.2, may appoint any member of the bar or any law firm or professional law corporation to represent the indigent client without compensation, upon a showing of good cause. Nothing herein shall preclude the appointed attorney from recovering any attorneys' fees and costs to which the client may be entitled by law. In determining the existence of good cause, the court may consider, but is not limited to, the following factors:

(a) The probable merit of the client's claim.

(b) The client's financial ability to pay for legal services.

(c) The availability of alternative legal representation.

(d) The need for legal representation to avoid irreparable legal prejudice to the indigent client.

(e) The ability of appointed counsel to effectively represent the indigent client.

(f) Present and recent pro bono work of the appointed attorney, law firm or private law corporation.

(g) The ability of the indigent client to represent himself.

(h) The workload of the appointed attorney.

286. When an attorney dies, or is removed or suspended, or ceases to act as such, a party to an action, for whom he was acting as attorney, must, before any further proceedings are had against him, be required by the adverse party, by written notice, to appoint another attorney, or to appear in person.