Maniago v. Desert Cardiology Consultants' Medical Group, Inc.

Procedural Issue

Appealability — voluntary dismissal as an appealable judgment

Holding

The California Supreme Court held that a plaintiff's voluntary dismissal of an action is not an appealable judgment unless the trial court has already reached a final resolution on every claim in the case. Where, as here, the trial court had only sustained a demurrer with leave to amend (before the amendment period expired) and struck certain requested relief — neither of which foreclosed any claim — a voluntary dismissal filed solely to expedite appellate review does not create appellate jurisdiction. The Court disapproved Austin v. Valverde and Flowers v. Prasad, and disapproved language in Stewart v. Colonial Western Agency, Inc., to the extent those decisions allowed an appeal from a voluntary dismissal entered after an interlocutory ruling that did not dispose of the entire action.

Why It Matters

This closes off a maneuver some plaintiffs' counsel have used to get fast appellate review of an unfavorable interlocutory ruling: voluntarily dismiss the whole case and appeal from the dismissal itself. After Maniago, that only works if the trial court's ruling actually disposed of every claim in the case — a demurrer sustained with leave to amend, filed while the amendment period is still open, does not qualify, even if the plaintiff has no intention of actually amending. If you're facing a genuinely case-dispositive interlocutory order and want review without waiting for a final judgment, the Court identifies the two real paths: a petition for writ of mandate, or obtaining a judgment specifically on the claims the ruling actually resolved (voluntarily dismissing only the remaining, unadjudicated claims) so there is a true final judgment to appeal from. Austin v. Valverde and Flowers v. Prasad are expressly disapproved on this point — don't cite either for the proposition that a voluntary dismissal filed merely to expedite review is itself an appealable judgment.

About This Entry

Court: Supreme Court of California
Topic: Civil Procedure
Month: September 2026
Publication status: Published
Last verified: 2026-09-02

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