Mosley

The last possible day to file a notice of appeal from an appealable order is 180 days after the signed order is filed. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.104(d)(3).) 1 This outside time limit is jurisdictional and cannot be extended, even if notice was not given. Appellants have a maximum of 180 days to come to a judgment, and cannot wait for a judgment to come to them.

But what happens when a file-stamped appealable order disappears into the juridical equivalent of a sock drawer? Here, the appealable order was signed and file stamped (fittingly enough) on April Fool’s Day. But it was not served on the litigants, and did not make its way into the public records. Appellant, who repeatedly (and physically) checked the court files to determine whether any order had been entered, came away emptyhanded. Not until late summer was the order “located” (we do not know where or why), placed in the court file, entered into the computerized case management system, and served upon the parties. Appellant thereupon promptly filed her notice of appeal.

A judgment or an appealable order is presumptively filed on the file-stamped date. This presumption, however, may be rebutted by evidence…