DUI Caselaw

Case law is the reported decisions of appellate courts which decide constitutional issues and interpret statutes. In the hierarchy of courts, appellate courts are above superior courts where DUI cases are charged. Appellate court decisions may be cited as controlling rules or precedent. The precedential value of appellate court decisions is referred to as stare decisis. The levels of appellate court authority are the Appellate Division of the Superior Court, California Court of Appeal, California Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court.

Decisions of the United States Supreme Court are binding on all lower courts, including the California Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeal and the California Superior Court. Decisions of the California Supreme Court are binding upon the California Court of Appeal and the California Superior Courts. Decisions of the California Court of Appeal are binding on all California Superior Courts.

Some attorneys believe incorrectly that the decisions of Appellate Divisions of the Superior Court are binding on all Superior Courts, but this is incorrect. In fact, some Judges incorrectly cite Appellate Division decisions of another county's superior court as binding authority. This is particularly problematic in DUI cases which are generally charged as misdemeanors. An appeal of a misdemeanor decision is generally made to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court in the county where the case was decided. Oftentimes the decisions of the Appellate Divisions relating to statutes have not been well reasoned and have led to results which arguably not what the Legislature which wrote the statute intended.

DUI Appellate Court Decisions

Included for the reader's reference are some of what I consider to be important Appellate Court Decisions in the field of California DUI law.

United States Supreme Court Decisions

• Berkemer v. McCarty
• Schmerber v. California
• Terry v. Ohio

California Supreme Court Decisions

• Ingersol v. Palmer
• Mercer v. DMV

California Court of Appeal Decisions

• People v. Minor

Superior Court Appellate Division Decisions

• People v. Perez

Office Location and Areas We Serve

The Law Office of Robert Tayac is located in San Francisco at 505 Montgomery Street, 11th Floor San Francisco, California 94111. Satellite offices are maintained in Napa, Redwood City, San Rafael, and Walnut Creek.

Contact The Office

Robert Tayac and the DUI investigators and experts working with him have been helping people who have been arrested for driving under the influence in San Francisco and the surrounding counties for more than twenty years. If you hire the Law Office of Robert Tayac to handle your DUI case, you will know that you have retained the services of the most knowledgeable, experienced, and trustworthy San Francisco DUI defense team.