Election of Remedies and Pretrial Writs
Election of Remedies and Pretrial Writs LEON J. ALEXANDER", I. INTRODUCTIN Our established civil procedure rules permit.a plaintiff to invoke varied temporary remedies before the trial takes place. The best known pretrial writ is still attachment, but many others are at times available, ranging from body arrest or claim and delivery to Uis pendens or receivership.' These writs are very powerful because they are still easy to obtain, take prompt effect and may impound defendants' property for years until the plaintiffs' rights are tested by a trial. Their effectiveness is demonstrated by the attention they receive in law reviews and court decisions. Hardly a session of our legislature passes without some changes in these laws. By these methods, the formal rules determining the use of writs are shaped to fit our ever-changing views of public policy. Once the laws are set, however, we find the published purposes ignored, and writs becoming tactical weapons of the parties to our * Partner, Alexander, Inman & Fine, Beverly Hills, California. A.B., 1947, Brooklyn College; LL.B., 1950, Yale University. 1. These writs are under strong judicial attack but the remedy is still held proper, even though the procedure has been ruled unconstitutional. See, Randone v. Appellate Dept., 5 Cal. 3d 536, 96 Cal. Rptr. 709 (1971) and cases cited. Our courts may hereafter eliminate the substance of vari- ous writs by holding all procedures to be unconstitutional. The decisions say, however, that the attack is solely on the issue of a hearing before writs may be used. February 1972 Vol. 9 No.
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