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Sacramento County Family Court clerks are unlawfully refusing to file appeals by unrepresented, financially disadvantaged family court litigants, according to a family court whistleblower. The policy constitutes an unlawful interference with court of appeal proceedings under California Rules of Court rule 8.23. The rejection occurs when a pro per party attempts to file a notice of appeal for child custody, support and other immediately appealable orders more than 60-days after order after hearing paperwork is filed. By law, the time frame to take an appeal from the orders is 180-days.The longer time frame applies because in family court cases, the court clerk must give the parties notice of entry of judgment using the Judicial Council FL-190 Notice of Entry of Judgment form. As policy, Sacramento Family Court does not issue the FL-190 form for appealable orders from motion and OSC hearings. When the form is not issued, the appeal time frame is 180-days. When the form is issued, the appeal time frame is 60-days. In Sacramento Family Court, all appealable motion and OSC orders are appealable for 180-days, yet court clerks are illegally rejecting the appeals after 60-days. As Sacramento Family Court News documented in parts one and two of our Color of Law series, court administrators - including Supervising Family Law Facilitator Lollie Roberts - have directed subordinate employees to ignore state law requiring the FL-190 Notice of Entry of Judgment form be filed and served for all appealable orders issued at motion and OSC hearings. Click here to read part one and here to read part two. The FL-190 form notifies the parties of appeal rights and contains an important clerk's certificate of mailing which determines the time frame for an appeal, according to state law, including a 2007 California Supreme Court decision. When the FL-190 form is correctly issued, the 60-day appeal time frame applies and begins to run when the clerk's certificate of mailing is completed and the form is served by the court on all parties. When the form is not issued, the appeal time frame is 180-days. Sacramento Family Court clerks both do not issue the FL-190 form, and still apply the shorter 60-day notice of appeal filing window using the filing date of order after hearing paperwork filed by attorneys. Court records leaked by a whistleblower include a letter from a court clerk "unfiling" a valid notice of appeal. In the letter, under penalty of perjury the clerk misstates the law, and notifies the unrepresented party that the previously filed appeal has been "unfiled." Attached to the letter is the litigants original filed notice of appeal with a red "X" scrawled over the original filing stamp, along with the notation "unfiled" and "SH," the initials of the clerk. SFCN has verified the authenticity of the documents by inspecting the original court file. The documents leaked to SFCN are identical to those in the file. For additional information about Sacramento County Family Court: www.sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.comJudge Matthew J. Gary: http://sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.com/search/label/MATTHEW%20J.%20GARY Judicial misconduct: http://sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.com/search/label/JUDICIAL%20MISCONDUCTColor of law and federal honest services fraud: http://sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.com/search/label/COLOR%20OF%20LAW%20SERIESConflicts of Interest: http://sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.com/search/label/CONFLICT%20OF%20INTERESTWhistleblowers: http://sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.com/search/label/WHISTLEBLOWERSSacramento County Bar Association Family Law Executive Committee: http://sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.com/search/label/FLECSacramento Family Court employee misconduct: http://sacramentocountyfamilycourtnews.blogspot.com/search/label/EMPLOYEE%20MISCONDUCTSCBA Family Law Section judge pro tem attorney controversies: http://sacramentocountyfamily
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ATTORNEY OR PARTY WITHOUT ATTORNEY (Name, state bar number, and at;ldress}: Susan C. Ferris
Sacramento, CA 95819
TELEPHONE NO.: 916- FAX NO. (Optional}: 916 E-MAIL ADDREss (OptionaQ: @gmail.com
ATTORNEY FOR (Name}: In SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO
STREET ADDREss: 3341 Power Inn Road MAILING ADDRESS: same
CITYANDZIP cooE: Sacramento, CA 95826 BRANcH NAME: William Ridgeway Family Relations
PLAINTIFF/PETITIONER: David M. Ferris
DEFENDANT/RESPONDENT: Susan C. Ferris
1ZJ NOTICE OF APPEAL CJ CROSS-APPEAL (UNLIMITED CIVIL CASE)
CASE NUMBER:
98FL05615
Notice: Please read Information on Appeal Procedures fot Unlimited Civil Cases (Judicial Council form APP-001) before completing this fonn. This form must be filed in the superior court, not in the Court of Appeal.
1. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that (name): Susan C. ferris appeals from the following judgment or order in this case, which was entered on (date): April 18, 2012 (Hearing Date-No Entry of D Judgmentafterjurytrial Judgment Filed) CJ Judgment after court trial
0 Default judgment
0 Judgment after an order granting a summary judgment motion
0 Judgment of dismissal under Code of Civil Procedure sections 581d, 583.250, 583.360, or 583.430
D Judgment of dismissal after an order sustaining a demurrer
[ZJ An order after judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1 (a)(2)
D An order or judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1(a)(3H13)
m Other (describe and specify code section that authorizes this appeal):
Decisional Law. Common Law 2. For cross-appeals only:
a. Date notice of appeal was filed In original appeal:
b. Date superior court clerk mailed notice of original appeal:
c. Court of Appeal case number (if known):
Date: August 7, 2012
Susan C. Ferris {TYPE OR PRINT NAME) (SIGNATURE OF PARTY OR ATTORNEY)
Page1 of2
Form Approved for Optional Use Judicial Council of California APP-002 (Rev. JIJy 1, 20101
NOTICE OF APPEAUCROSS-APPEAL (UNLIMITED CIVIL CASE) (Appellate)
Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.100 www.coutts.ca.90v
MAILING LIST
In RE: Marriage of Ferris v Ferris
Sacramento Superior Court No.: 98FL05615
Timothy Zeff
Larscheid, Buchanan & Zeff
2609 Capitol A venue Sacramento, CA 95816
Attorney for Petitioner/Respondent
C:\Documents and Settings\hinmans\Desktop\20 12 Dependency Appeals\Letter 98FL05615.doc
