6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/08/11 Afternoon Session - Aug 11, 2026

argument

6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/08/11 Afternoon Session

California Sixth District Court of Appeal 1h 53m 8 chapters transcribed 9 days ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What procedural announcements are made at the start of the oral argument?

Unknown 4:50

Good afternoon. Please be seated and welcome to the Sixth District Court of Appeal for oral argument this afternoon. We have three matters on calendar today. Um I'll make just a couple of announcements. Before we commence, um there will be panel changes between cases. Um secondly, uh the justices have access to our laptops here on the bench, so you'll see us looking off at our materials. We have the briefs, the record Um our own notes, anything that we need to look at in order to uh uh help us during oral argument today. Um and third, since we're on the discussion of technology, we do have some remote appearances today and it is our pleasure uh and it from our perspective a matter of access to justice to allow this.

Unknown 5:38

Um but for those of you sitting in the audience, you'll be able to hear but you will not be able to see um the persons who are appearing remotely. If you want both an audio and a visual experience, um you're free to go to the waiting room where we have a live stream and you'd be able to see both. But in the alternative also uh we archive our oral arguments almost immediately after they're completed on our website and there you would be able to access both the audio and the visual um even when somebody is appearing remotely. With that, give me just a moment to get situated and we'll start the arguments.

Unknown 6:44

First matter on calendars H O five three two three zero in ray the marriage of R L and S L. uh R L respondent versus SL appellant. If I could have appellants appearance at the podium please and a confirmation of your time estimate, please.

Megan Walker 7:02

Good afternoon, Megan Walker and Corey Hernandez on behalf of Appellant SL. I'd like to reserve uh five minutes for rebuttal. I'm estimating fifteen total.

Unknown 7:10

All right, so ten and five. Thank you, Ms. Walker. And uh appearing remotely today for uh R L respondent.

Julia Sheer Kushner 7:20

Ms. Julia Shear Kushner, I am attorney for respondents and I believe my time estimate is fifteen minutes.

Unknown 7:26

All right, thank you very much, Ms. Kushner. Let's return back to uh Ms. Walker and you may proceed.

Megan Walker 7:33

Thank you. I know this panel is familiar with the briefs, but I wanted to c uh highlight a couple key issues. This appeal turns on issues of law. First, in violating the TRO by failing to fully and timely surrender his firearms. RL necessarily engaged in abuse as defined in the Domestic Violence Prevention Act Statute. It is undisputed that Arl failed to surrender any of the firearms in his possession. For several weeks after receipt of service of the TRO. It is also undisputed that R L never surrendered the firearms he owned that were located in the home with SL and the children. And a violation of a TRO is an act of abuse. Moreover The court below did not correctly engage in a totality of the circumstances analysis and thus erred as a matter of law.

Megan Walker 8:22

Rather, it siloed a few of the incidents raised by SL and then found no single one sufficient to constitute abuse. It also gave greater weight to R L's justifications for his actions while ignoring the impact of the same on SL. Applying an incorrect definition of abuse.

What are the key issues in the domestic‑violence case involving R.L. and S.L.?

Megan Walker 8:42

The uncontroverted facts show that in addition to violating the TRO, RL threatened to stop paying for h SL's health insurance and phones. If she did not have sex with him before making good on his threats At least ten months before R L and SL separated, SL texted one of her sisters, saying that she thought R L had anger issues and that as a result she felt weak, tired, and scared. This was consistent with her messages to her sisters and her father at the time of separation in which she attempted to document her will to And hopes for her children via text message. Because RL's conduct made her fear for her life. RL admitted he recorded numerous hours of camera surveillance of SL. And that he threatened SL's father and sister with abduction charges if they left Santa Cruz County with the children when he saw them arrive at L's home via the doorbell security footage.

Megan Walker 9:36

In two thousand nine R.L. pled guilty to a charge of misdemeanor assault with a taser, having used the weapon against an unhoused man.