(Subd (b) amended effective July 1, 2010.)
Cal. R. Ct. 8.817
Advisory Committee Comment
Subdivision (a). Subdivision (a)(1) requires service "by any method permitted by the Code of Civil Procedure." The reference is to the several permissible methods of service provided in Code of Civil Procedure sections 1010- 1020. What Is Proof of Service? (form APP-109-INFO) provides additional information about how to serve documents and how to provide proof of service.
Subdivision (b). In general, to be filed on time, a document must be received by the clerk before the time for filing that document expires. There are, however, some limited exceptions to this general rule. For example, (5) provides that if the superior court clerk receives a document by mail from a custodial institution after the deadline for filing the document has expired but the envelope shows that the document was mailed or delivered to custodial officials for mailing before the deadline expired, the document is deemed timely. This provision reflects the "prison-delivery" exception articulated by the California Supreme Court in In re Jordan (1992) 4 Cal.4th 116 and Silverbrand v. County of Los Angeles (2009) 46 Cal.4th 106.
Note that if a deadline runs from the date of filing, it runs from the date that the document is actually received and deemed filed under (b)(1); neither (b)(3) nor (b)(5) changes that date. Nor do these provisions extend the date of finality of an appellate opinion or any other deadline that is based on finality, such as the deadline for the court to modify its opinion or order rehearing. Subdivision (b)(5) is also not intended to limit a criminal defendant's appeal rights under the case law of constructive filing. (See, e.g., In re Benoit (1973) 10 Cal.3d 72.)