CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM DISTINCTIONS — ONE-PAGE CHEAT SHEET
Condensed companion to the California Bar Exam Distinctions long outline.
Format: California is not a UBE state. Its own exam pairs essays + a Performance Test with the MBE; California-specific law (CEC evidence, CCP procedure, community property, PR under the CRPC + State Bar Act) is fair game on the essays. Below = where California departs from the MBE/majority rules.
1. CIVIL PROCEDURE (CCP)
Fact pleading — complaint must state ultimate facts for each element, not federal notice/plausibility pleading. · Pleadings attacked by demurrer (general = fails to state a cause of action; special = uncertainty), tested on the four corners + judicially noticeable matter; sustained with leave to amend. · Primary-rights theory of res judicata — a single primary right (one injury to one interest) is one cause of action; narrower than the federal transactional test, so claim preclusion can differ. · No-mutuality collateral estoppel permitted (offensive/defensive). · Personal jurisdiction long-arm reaches the full extent of due process (CCP § 410.10). · Anti-SLAPP special motion to strike (CCP § 425.16) for speech/petition claims.
2. EVIDENCE (CEC)
California has its own Evidence Code, not the FRE. · Proposition 8 ("Truth-in-Evidence," Cal. Const. art. I § 28(f)) — in criminal cases, all relevant evidence is admissible, overriding many state exclusionary rules, but subject to CEC § 352 balancing and key carve-outs preserved (hearsay rules, privileges, § 1101 character limits, exclusionary remedies, rape-shield). · Character/credibility: Prop 8 lets prior felony convictions impeach in criminal cases. · No general Confrontation override of federal constitution. · Privileges: CEC recognizes physician-patient (§ 994), psychotherapist-patient (§ 1014), spousal communication + spousal testimonial, and others — broader than federal common law. · § 352 balancing parallels FRE 403.
3. TORTS
Pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab) — plaintiff recovers reduced by own fault even if >50%. · Proposition 51 (CC § 1431.2): joint-and-several liability for economic damages, but several-only for non-economic damages (each defendant pays only its proportionate share of pain-and-suffering). · Rowland v. Christian — abolished rigid common-law entrant categories; landowner duty turns on general foreseeability/policy factors (single reasonable-care duty). · MICRA medical-malpractice limits (noneconomic cap, recently raised and indexed; periodic payments; shortened SOL). · Dram-shop immunity (Bus. & Prof. § 25602) — provider generally not liable except serving an obviously intoxicated minor.
4. PROPERTY
Race-notice recording act (CC § 1214) — subsequent BFP for value without notice prevails only if she records first. · Adverse possession 5 years AND the possessor must have paid all taxes on the land for the five years (CCP § 325) — the tax-payment requirement is distinctive. · Deeds of trust dominate over mortgages; nonjudicial trustee's sale (power of sale) under CC § 2924. · Anti-deficiency rules: CCP § 580b bars deficiency on purchase-money loans; § 580d bars deficiency after a nonjudicial trustee's sale; one-action rule (CCP § 726). · Homestead exemption protects equity (statutorily increased and county-indexed).
5. FAMILY / COMMUNITY PROPERTY
Community-property state. · Property acquired during marriage by labor presumed community; acquired before marriage or by gift/devise/bequest is separate (Fam. Code §§ 760, 770). · Equal (50/50) division of community estate on divorce (§ 2550) — not "equitable." · Income from separate property is separate (contrast Texas). · Tracing rebuts the commingling presumption; reimbursement under § 2640 for separate funds contributed to community property. · Putative-spouse and quasi-community-property doctrines. · Premarital agreements under the UPAA with heightened voluntariness/representation safeguards (§ 1615).
6. WILLS / TRUSTS
California recognizes holographic wills (material provisions + signature in testator's handwriting; Prob. Code § 6111) — contrast NY/FL/TX. · Attested wills: 2 witnesses; harmless-error/clear-and-convincing saving provision (§ 6110(c)(2)). · No elective share — surviving spouse already owns one-half of community + quasi-community property; omitted-spouse/omitted-child statutes instead. · Anti-lapse covers kindred of the testator (§ 21110). · Probate homestead and family allowance.
7. CONTRACTS / BUSINESS
Non-competes void (CC § 16600) — California voids employee covenants not to compete almost entirely (narrow sale-of-business/dissolution exceptions); recent statutes (§§ 16600.1/16600.5) bar enforcing out-of-state non-competes and require employer notice. · Liquidated-damages clauses presumptively valid in many consumer/lease contexts but scrutinized (CC §§ 1671). · Corporations Code governs entities; California imposes its own derivative-suit and shareholder-protection rules.
8. CRIMINAL
Penal Code with statutory degrees; first-degree murder includes premeditation + enumerated felony murder. · SB 1437 felony-murder reform — liability limited to the actual killer, an aider with intent to kill, or a major participant acting with reckless indifference; retroactive resentencing (§ 1170.95/1172.6). · Broad burglary (§ 459) — entry of a structure (no breaking, any time of day, includes entering one's own/open premises) with intent to commit larceny or any felony; Prop-driven degrees. · Proposition 47 reclassified many drug/property offenses (under $950) as misdemeanors, with resentencing. · Three Strikes; self-defense allows standing ground (no general retreat duty).
9. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Governed by the California Rules of Professional Conduct (2018 rules) + Business & Professions Code (State Bar Act), not the Model Rules directly. · Confidentiality (B&P § 6068(e) + Rule 1.6) is stricter — disclosure permitted only to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm; no crime-fraud/financial-harm disclosure exception like the Model Rules. · Distinct conflict, fee-splitting, and advertising rules; mandatory fee-arbitration; client trust-account rules.
10. EXAM FORMAT
California essays + Performance Test paired with the MBE. Essays may demand California-specific law (CEC, CCP, community property, CRPC). Identify when the call asks for California law versus general principles and apply the correct body.
KEY FLAGS
Fact pleading + demurrer + primary-rights res judicata (CCP) · CEC evidence + Prop 8 truth-in-evidence (criminal) with § 352 + preserved carve-outs · pure comparative negligence + Prop 51 several-only non-economic damages + Rowland duty + MICRA · race-notice recording (§ 1214) + 5-yr AP with tax payment (§ 325) + deeds of trust/trustee's sale + anti-deficiency §§ 580b/580d/726 + homestead · community property — equal 50/50 division, income from separate is separate, § 2640 reimbursement · holographic wills allowed + no elective share + omitted-spouse statutes · non-competes void (CC § 16600) · SB 1437 felony-murder limits + Prop 47 reclassification + broad burglary (§ 459) · stricter confidentiality (B&P § 6068(e)) — death/substantial-bodily-harm only.