Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Superior Court

The trial court in the instant matter granted a motion for class certification based solely on a single appellate court opinion. Shortly after the class certification motion was granted, the Supreme Court depublished the appellate court opinion on which the trial court had relied. By this time, the 10-day period for defendant to seek reconsideration of the trial court’s order under Code of Civil Procedure section 1008, subdivision (a) had lapsed. Defendant therefore requested that the trial court exercise its discretion under Code of Civil Procedure section 1008, subdivision (c) to reconsider the order granting class certification on its own motion. That subdivision permits a trial court to reconsider its prior order if it determines “there has been a change of law” that warrants reconsideration. In this case, the trial court determined that it was precluded from granting reconsideration on the basis that the Supreme Court’s order depublishing the sole authority on which it had previously relied did not, in fact, constitute a “change of law.”

Defendant sought review by petition for writ of mandate. We issued an order to show cause and will now grant the petition. The…