As you can tell, the appellate courts give considerable deference to the trial court in making discretionary rulings, especially when there are several permissible options available to the lower court.  This standard of review also presents a tough challenge on appeal, but as noted above, the chances of success are increased when the ruling goes outside applicable principles of law and results in a miscarriage of justice.  At the trial level, the attorney must show how the court’s ruling conflicts with those principles of law, and also, how the ruling will result in prejudicial error.

      In Estate of Gilkison (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 1443, the court described a challenge based on abuse of discretion:

“An attorney who prosecutes an appeal from an order addressed to the trial court’s sound discretion is confronted with more than a daunting task.  This is an uphill battle which, absent unusual circumstances, may be equated with confederate General John Bell Hood’s attempt to capture ‘Little Round Top’ at the battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War.  General Hood did not succeed.”

(Id. at p. 1448.)