If an appeal to a reviewing court has been taken in any action or special proceeding in any trial court in which the record has been subsequently lost or destroyed by conflagration or other public calamity and a transcript of such record has been filed in the reviewing court, any person interested in the action or special proceeding may obtain a certified copy of all or any portion of the transcript from the clerk of the reviewing court and may file such certified copy in the office of the clerk of the court from which the appeal was taken. Thereupon the certified copy may be made the basis of any further proceedings or processes in the trial court in such action or special proceeding to all intents and purposes as if the original record were on file.
§ 1953.06.Transcript on appeal; substitution for destroyed trial court record
Title 2. Of the Kinds and Degrees of Evidence · Chapter 3. Writings · Article 4. Records Destroyed in Fire or Calamity · Last amended 1967 · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1953.06 lets an interested person, when a trial court's record has been lost or destroyed after an appeal but a transcript of that record was already filed with the reviewing court, obtain and file a certified copy of the transcript so it can serve as the basis for further trial court proceedings.
Full Text of § 1953.06
Plain-English Summary
An appeal creates a built-in backup for the trial court's own record: a transcript filed with the reviewing court. This section puts that backup to use. If a trial court's record is later lost or destroyed by fire or other public calamity, after an appeal has already been taken and a transcript filed with the reviewing court, anyone interested in the case can get a certified copy of all or part of that transcript from the reviewing court's clerk.
Filing that certified copy back with the clerk of the trial court closes the loop. From then on, the certified copy can be used as the basis for any further proceedings in the trial court, standing in for the original record to every extent the original would have served.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this section require to already have happened before it applies?
An appeal must have been taken, with a transcript of the trial court record filed in the reviewing court.
Where does the certified copy come from?
The clerk of the reviewing court, who provides a certified copy of all or any portion of the transcript on file there.
What happens once the certified copy is filed with the trial court?
It can be used as the basis for further proceedings in the trial court, to the same extent the original record would have been.
Amendment History
(Added by Stats.1953, c. 52, p. 713, § 14. Amended by Stats.1967, c. 17, p. 833, § 21.)
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the West's Annotated California Codes / Thomson Reuters. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: appellate transcript replaces lost trial recordreconstructing trial court record after appeal