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Is a judge allowed to drop an “f bomb”, even if he or she is outside of court? The answer in California appears to be no, at least if it is in reference to a conversation with another judge. The issue arose recently in a case filed with the State’s Commission on Judicial Performance. This is…
The use of retired judges to resolve family law cases in California has become quite common over the years. The way it works is that in exchange for an hourly rate paid for by the parties, the retired judge serves as a “privately compensated temporary judge.” However, in a published decision by the California Court…
San Diego Family Law Judge Becomes Chief Justice In 2013, attorney Patricia Guerrero was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to be a judge for the San Diego County Superior Court. She started off in one of the family law courtrooms and from there her rise to stardom has been astronomical. Shortly after 2013, Judge Guerrero…
Vulgarity Gets Lawyer in Trouble A recent incident in San Diego County Superior Court is a reminder of an older California Court of Appeal case, People v. Chong, wherein the Court stated, “it is vital to the integrity of our adversary legal process that attorneys strive to maintain the highest standards of ethics, civility, and…
Change in Leadership in San Diego County Superior Court Family Law Division An email from earlier this Saturday quotes San Diego County Superior Court family law supervising judge Margo Lewis Hoy as saying that both she and assistant family law supervising judge Edlene McKenzie are retiring in less than two and a half months. Per…
Juvenile Court Judge Punished for Acting . . . Juvenile? During the impeachment trial this year of former president Donald J. Trump, there was an argument that a former president, having left office, was not subject to punishment by the Senate. But with respect to the California judiciary, there are no such similar arguments. Case…
California Family Law Judge Punished for Remarks Made on Bench Who judges the judges? In California, that’s a complicated question. If you think your family law judge made a mistake that hurt your case, you may appeal to the Court of Appeal. If you think that the judge acted inappropriately, based on words, conduct, or…
What Was He Thinking? Saying or writing things that express bias have no place in the legal system, but even today not everyone has gotten the message. Take the case of Briganti v. Chow, a decision by the California Court of Appeal filed on Friday, Nov. 22, 2019. This was a case about defamation, but…
Dead Judges Can’t Make Orders You would think this is obvious, but the United States Supreme Court has ruled that a judge’s decision made before a case is decided does not count if the judge dies before the decision is actually released to the public. The case, Vovino v. Rizo, involved the late Stephen Reinhardt,…