Berkes

DISCUSSION

" ' "[T]he duty of this court, as of every other judicial tribunal, is to decide actual

controversies by a judgment which can be carried into effect, and not to give opinions

upon moot questions or abstract propositions, or to declare principles or rules of law

which cannot affect the matter in issue in the case before it." ' [Citation.] . . . 'It

necessarily follows that when, pending an appeal from the judgment of a lower court, and

without any fault of the defendant, an event occurs which renders it impossible for this

court, if it should decide the case in favor of plaintiff, to grant him any effectual relief

whatever, the court will not proceed to a formal judgment, but will dismiss the appeal.' "

(Eye Dog Foundation v. State Bd. of Guide Dogs for Blind (1967) 67 Cal.2d 536, 541;

see In re Esperanza C. (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 1042, 1054; La Jolla Cove Motel and

Hotel Apartments, Inc. v. Superior Court (2004) 121 Cal.App.4th 773, 781.) "The policy

3 behind a mootness dismissal is that 'courts decide justiciable controversies and will

normally not render advisory opinions.' " (Giraldo v. Department of Corrections…