![]() In that instance, all superior courts are free to pick and choose which precedent they wish to follow until the state supreme court settles the issue for the entire state, although a superior court confronted with such a conflict will normally follow the view of its own Court of Appeal (if it has already taken a side on the issue). However, another Court of Appeal division or district may rule differently on that point of law after a litigant seeks relief from an adverse trial court ruling that faithfully applied existing precedent. Thus, all superior courts (and hence all litigants) are bound by the decision of a Court of Appeal if it is the only published California precedent that articulates a point of law relevant to a particular set of facts, even if the superior court would have decided differently if writing on a fresh slate. In contrast, "there is no horizontal stare decisis in the California Court of Appeal" Court of Appeal decisions are not binding between divisions or even between panels of the same division. This is distinct from the practice in the federal courts and in other state court systems in which trial courts are bound only by the appellate decisions from the particular circuit in which it sits, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States or the state supreme court. Notably, all published California appellate decisions are binding on all trial courts. The decisions of the Courts of Appeal are binding on the California superior courts, and both the Courts of Appeal and the superior courts are bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court of California. The California Appellate Reports, the court's official reporter
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