Moustakas v. Dashevsky, B069672
| Decision Date | 06 June 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. B069672,B069672 |
| Citation | 30 Cal.Rptr.2d 753,25 Cal.App.4th 752 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Michael C. MOUSTAKAS, Plaintiff, Cross-defendant, and Respondent, v. Arkady DASHEVSKY, Defendant, Cross-complainant, and Appellant. |
Arkady Dashevsky, in pro. per.
Haight, Brown & Bonesteel, Roy G. Weatherup, Barry Z. Brodsky, Thomas N. Charchut, Marsha Palmer, and Celeste Elig, Santa Monica, for respondent.
**
Arkady Dashevsky appeals from a money judgment, entered August 7, 1992, after a nonjury trial of respondent Michael C. Moustakas's claim for payment for legal services rendered. We affirm.
The trial was recorded on videotape. No court reporter was present. (See Code Civ.Proc., § 270; rules 980.5 and 980.6, Cal.Rules of Court.) The record furnished for our review includes both a certified transcription of the audio portion of the videotape and an uncertified copy of the videotape. The latter is included in the appellant's appendix in lieu of clerk's transcript. The video image contains running subtitles showing the hour, minute, and second of recording.
In his brief, appellant cites specific portions of the videotape in support of three of his arguments. First, he argues that the videotape shows the trial court spent only 43 seconds examining six documentary exhibits, one of which was seven pages long. Second, he argues that after he made an offer of proof, "the videotape reveals a very telling silence on the part of the court." Third, he argues that an 84-second segment of the videotape establishes that the trial court, while listening to his testimony regarding respondent's failure to render an itemized bill, had an itemized bill on the bench but failed to tell him.
It was probably inevitable that those responsible for the practical aspects of judicial administration would decide to use video cameras to make a record of trial proceedings. Though this technology lacks the advantages of computerized court reporting, the visible and audible information thus recorded might be of value to many people, including judges. Rule 980.5(i) provides that a videotape may be made part of the record on appeal upon stipulation of the parties and approval by the appellate court.
The rules of court do not address the most important implication of the videotaping of trial proceedings. Many aspects of the time-honored rules limiting the scope of appellate review are based on the trial judge's opportunity to see and hear witnesses, attorneys, and jurors. A drastic change in the principles of appellate review would be needed before we could base our decisions on appeal on our own evaluation of the sights and sounds of the trial courtroom. Because...
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Walker v. State
...only one appellate court that expressly declined to review a videotape of trial proceedings. In Moustakas v. Dashevsky, 25 Cal.App.4th 752, 754, 30 Cal.Rptr.2d 753, 754 (1994), the court did not want to engage in its "own evaluation of the sights and sounds of the trial courtroom." In that ......
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...to view the videotape, it can be argued that the usual rule is inapplicable. Such an argument was raised in Moustakas v. Dashevsky (1994) 25 Cal. App.4th 752, 754, 30 Cal.Rptr.2d 753. The court rejected it: "It was probably inevitable that those responsible for the practical aspects of judi......
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...6 At least one intermediate appellate court has specifically declined to make these determinations, see Moustakas v. Dashevsky, 25 Cal.App.4th 752, 30 Cal.Rptr.2d 753, 754 (1994), and two other intermediate appellate courts have strongly disapproved the practice because it frustrates effect......