Payne v. Superior Court

Opinion

MOSK, J.

Few liberties in America have been more zealously guarded than the right to protect one’s property in a court of law. This nation has long realized that none of our freedoms would be secure if any person could be deprived of his possessions without an opportunity to defend them “ ‘at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.’ ” (Fuentes v. Shevin (1972) 407 U.S. 67, 80 [32 L.Ed.2d 556, 569-570, 92 S.Ct. 1983].) In a variety of contexts, the right of access to the courts has been reaffirmed and strengthened throughout our 200-year history.

For one limited category of…