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Wednesday,
June 30,
1999 |
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A
report on where |
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Honolulu
Attorney Duffy Nominated for Ninth Circuit...Superior Court Judge Feess'
Nomination to Federal Bench Clears Senate Judiciary Committee...Martinez
Elected Presiding Judge of Alhambra Municipal Court
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Judges,
Lawyers Under Scrutiny
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Nancy Brown
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge
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The special masters who heard evidence on the Commission on Judicial Performance's charges against Brown reported, on May 11, their finding that Brown had engaged in willful misconduct in banning former court coordinator John Iverson from her courtroom for a period of more than three years. Fourth District Court of Appeal Justice Gilbert Nares and Santa Clara Superior Court Judge James Chang sided with commission lawyers on that point. The third master, Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge William Gordon, rejected the claim of willful misconduct but found that the ban constituted conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. The masters rejected charges that Brown improperly attempted to arrange a marriage ceremony for convicted murderer Lyle Menendez, smoked in her chambers in violation of state law, and demeaned respect for the law by displaying an artificial marijuana plant in her chambers and briefly in her courtroom. |
Alfonso
Hermo
Retired Whittier Municipal Court
Judge
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Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Ito last week denied a motion to dismiss charges that Hermo, who retired in March of last year after 30 years on the court, helped a baliff cover up the escape of a prisoner in January of last year. Hermo and suspended sheriff's Deputy Al Garces are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. Hermo allegedly issued a phony "own recognizance" release for the escaped prisoner and subsequently "failed to perform his duty to re-issue arrest warrants," according to the indictment returned March 17 by the grand jury. The judge personally obtained all five of the defendant's case files and marked each of them "OR," with Garces' assistance, the indictment further alleges. |
J.
Anthony Kline
Presiding Justice, First
District Court of Appeal, Div. Two
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The Commission on Judicial Performance reportedly voted 8-1 on June 15 to dismiss misconduct charges against Kline. The commission announced only that it had made a decision, which it would not disclose until a formal decision and opinion are filed. The case against Kline stemmed from a dissenting opinion in which the jurist said he could not, "as a matter of conscience," adhere to a California Supreme Court decision which generally allows the parties to a lawsuit to stipulate that a prior appellate ruling in the case be reversed. Kline said he would join in such stipulated reversals only as part of the "ministerial act" of complying with a mandate from the high court. Kline's position that a judicial officer could not be subjected to discipline based on the content of an opinion, absent bad faith, drew support from a number of legal scholars and groups, including the California Judges Association. |
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His presiding judge notified the Commission on Judicial Performance this month that Murphy, who was elected to the court in 1992, has been absent from court based on asserted illness for more than 90 days in a 12-month period. Murphy hasn't taken the bench since April, when the District Attorney's Office disclosed it was investigating a complex series of financial transfers in which the judge may have been involved in 1996 and 1997. The transfers appear to have been initiated by Dr George Taus, a physician and close friend of Murphy, and are the subject of two lawsuits as well as the District Attorney's probe. The trustee of Taus' bankruptcy estate has sued Murphy and others for the return of nearly $1.9 million that the trustee claims was wrongfully taken from the estate. Two securities firms, Smith Barney Inc. and Prudential Securities, Inc., have sued Murphy, Taus and others for fraud and conversion, seeking damages in excess of $785,000, including interest. The firms claim that Murphy helped Taus conceal from the doctor's ex-wife, Susan Taus, a portion of the funds to which she was entitled as a result of a marital settlement agreement. The firms are suing because a National Association of Securities Dealers arbitration panel held them responsible for paying the funds over to the doctor and required them to reimburse Susan Taus. Senior U.S. District Judge Wm. Matthew Byrne Jr. rejected the firms' bid to overturn the ruling. Other investigations are reportedly being conducted by the FBI and the Criminal Investigations Division of the IRS. Murphy, through his attorney, has denied assertions that he was involved in any wrongdoing, suggesting that other defendants in the civil cases were using him as a scapegoat. |
George
H. Trammell III
Retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge
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Trammell, a judge from 1971 to 1997, faces a July 26 deposition in a civil suit stemming from his secret sexual relationship with a woman who was a defendant in a case before him. The jurist, who abruptly quit the bench two years ago when the relationship became public, has also been censured by the Commission on Judicial Performance and permanently barred from hearing cases on assignment or by reference. A panel of special masters appointed by the Supreme Court found that Trammell had engaged in improper conduct, including hundreds of ex parte contacts with the woman, Pifen Lo. Lo said the judge coerced her into having sex by promising favorable treatment for her husband, a co-defendant in her case. The masters found that commission attorneys had failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Lo was coerced, and the commission agreed. The District Attorney's Office declined to charge Trammell with any criminal offense. The Legislature, citing the case, approved legislation making judges subject to prosecution for obstruction of justice in their own courtrooms, which is now law. There is reportedly an ongoing federal criminal investigation into the case as well. Trammell was a Los Angeles Municipal Court judge from 1971 until 1988, when he was elevated to the Superior Court by then-Gov. George Deukmejian. |
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Judiciary:
Vacancies, Appointments
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Federal Courts
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There are seven vacancies on the 28-judge court. Honolulu attorney James E. Duffy Jr., 57, a former president of both the Hawaii State Bar Association and the Hawaii Trial Lawyers Association,paprwt1.jpg was nominated on June 17 to succeed Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall, who took senior status at the end of August 1997. Duffy, who would be the court's only active judge from Hawaii, is a Minnesota native who went to Hawaii after graduating from Wisconsin's Marquette University Law School. He has been in private practice there since 1971 and has been a partner in the firm now known as Fujiyama, Duffy, and Fujiyama since 1974. San Francisco attorney Marsha Berzon, 53, had a confirmation hearing June 16. Berzon was nominated Jan. 27 of last year to succeed Judge John T. Noonan, who took senior status at the beginning of 1997. Action on her nomination was delayed because conservative senators submitted multiple sets of written questions concerning cases she has handled on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. A partner in Berzon, Nussbaum, Berzon & Rubin, she is associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and has argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, where she clerked for the late Justice William Brennan Jr. She is also a director of the ACLU of Northern California and the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco. Berzon is one of four previous nominees whose were not considered by the Senate and were renominated Jan. 26. Associate U.S. Attorney General Raymond Fisher, a former Los Angeles attorney and former Police Commission president, was nominated March 15 to succeed Judge David Thompson, who took senior status at the end of last year. Fisher, who was of counsel in the Los Angeles office of Heller, Ehrman, White, & McAuliffe before taking the Justice Department position, is also a former Brennan clerk. U.S. District Judge Richard Paez of the Central District of California, San Francisco attorney Barry P. Goode, and Seattle attorney Ronald Gould were renominated along with Berzon on Jan. 26. Paez's earlier nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 20 of last year, with six Republican senators dissenting. Paez, 50, was nominated to succeed Judge Cecil F. Poole, who took senior status in January 1996 and is now deceased. Paez, 52, is a former presiding judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court and was appointed a district judge in 1994 by Clinton. He was one of only four judicial nominees last year who were cleared by the committee but not voted on by the full Senate. Goode, 50, was nominated June 24 of last year to succeed Judge Charles E. Wiggins, who took senior status July 31, 1996. Goode, who did not receive a committee hearing, is litigator at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen and an adjunct professor of environmental law at the University of San Francisco. The New York native and onetime Senate staff member specializes in the defense of mass environmental tort litigation. Gould, 51, was nominated on Nov. 8, 1997 to succeed Judge Robert R. Beezer, who took senior status on July 31, 1996. Gould is a partner in Seattle-based Perkins Coie, the Northwest's largest law firm. He practices antitrust and trade-regulation law, does complex commercial litigation, and deals with problems relating to failures of financial institutions. He is a former state bar association president, taught at the University of Washington Law School as a visiting professor, and was a law clerk to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart. Washington state Chief Justice Barbara Durham, who was nominated in January for the seat that Judge Betty B. Fletcher gave up when she took senior status in November, said last month that she was withdrawing because her husband is seriously ill. |
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The March 6 death of Judge Linda McLaughlin leaves five vacancies on the court. The Senate Judiciary Committee last week sent Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gary Feess' nomination to the full Senate without objection. Fees, who had a confirmation hearing June 16, was nominated Jan. 26 to succeed Judge James Ideman, who took senior status in April of last year and retired in September. Los Angeles attorney Dolly Gee and Santa Monica lawyer Fredric Woocher were nominated May 27 to fill the seats left vacant by the retirement of Judge John Davies and the elevation of Judge Kim Wardlaw, both of which occurred in July of last year. Magistrate Judge Virginia Phillips was nominated—for the second time—on Jan. 26 to fill the seat vacated by Judge Wm. Matthew Byrne Jr. when he took senior status on March 1 of last year. Phillips—who sits in both Los Angeles and Riverside—was originally nominated on May 11 of last year but the Judiciary Committee failed to act on her nomination. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has reportedly recommended that the president nominate Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper to McLauglin's seat. |
State
Courts
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California Supreme Court There
are no vacancies.
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Courts
of Appeal
This District (Second District) The governor last month sent the name of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Candace Cooper to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as a potential appointee to Div. Two. If nominated and confirmed, she would succeed Justice Morio Fukuto, who retired Feb. 14. Presiding Justice Steven Stone of Div. Six retired Jan. 5. Justice Arthur Gilbert, the only member of the Ventura-based division remaining from its creation in 1982, is the acting presiding justice and is expected to be named as Stone's successor. Ventura Superior Court Judges Melinda Johnson and Steven Perren are reportedly in contention for Gilbert's spot if he's elevated. Fourth District Justice Edward Wallin retired from Div. Three Feb. 16 to become a private judge. Justice Sheila Prell Sonenshine retired April 14 to become president of a start-up financial services company. Fifth District Justice William Stone is retiring in September. Seats in other districts are filled. |
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Los Angeles Superior Court There are four vacancies on the 238-judge court. Judge Victor Barrera retired March 2, Judge Enrique Romero retired March 7, and Judges Sherman Smith and Joseph Kalin retired April 4. Judge Robert Mallano is sitting on assignment in Div. Two and Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl is sitting in Div. Four of this district's Court of Appeal through July. |
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Municipal Courts, Los Angeles County Alhambra Citrus Los Angeles Judge William R. Weisman is sitting on assignment in Div. Five of this district's Court of Appeal through August. Judge Mel Red Recana is away from the court this year, serving as chair of the Municipal Court Judges Association. Commissioner Ernest Lopez is filling in. Long Beach Los Cerritos Pomona Southeast |
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Bills
Affecting the Legal Community
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The
following legislation related to the legal profession was acted upon in June
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—SB 69, by Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on a 5-0 vote June 22. The measure, which was sent to the Assembly floor, would specify that in a case involving stalking, the prosecutor's unavailability due to a trial in progress is grounds for a one-time continuance, not to exceed 10 court days. —SB 72, also by Murray, passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 10-2 vote June 22. The measure, which was sent to the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, would require a lawyer to provide written disclosure of possible conflicts of interest before selling financial products to an elder or dependent adult with whom he or she has had an attorney-client relationship within the preceding three years. —SB 143, by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, was amended June 24 and referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The bill would establish certain rights for attorneys in the State Bar's discipline process, and would require the State Bar to compile statistics to determine whether the process is biased against solo practitioners and lawyers in small firms. —SB 144, by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, passed the Senate on June 1 with a 22-12 vote, and cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 22 with a 10-5 vote. The bill, which would set State Bar dues at $395 for most lawyers and limit the State Bar's lobbying activity, has been scheduled for a July 7 hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. —SB 161, by Sen. Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on June 15 on a 15-0 vote. The measure, which faces its next vote in the Assembly Public Safety Committee, would require court officers and prosecutors to check databases for past convictions prior to consideration of a motion for a protective order. —AB 177, by Assemblyman Lou Papan, D-Millbrae, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on an 5-4 vote June 8. The bill, which was sent to the Senate floor, would allow counties to raise money for courthouse waiting rooms for children by increasing a variety of civil filing fees $2 to $5. —AB 526, by Assemblywoman Charlene Zettel, R-San Diego, was referred to the Senate Public Safety Committee on June 17. The bill would create an exception to the hearsay rule for certain statements of elder and dependent adults who are victims of abuse. —AB 592, by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, passed the Assembly on a 76-1 vote June 2, and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 7. The bill would increase juror compensation from $5 to $12.50 per day, and would require the Judicial Council to conduct pilot projects in three counties to reimburse jurors for child care and other dependent care expenses, up to $50 per day in addition to the juror pay. —AB 792, by Assemblyman Rod Pacheco, R-Riverside, passed the Senate Public Safety Committee on a 5-0 vote June 22, and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill would require the government to pay the relocation costs of a prosecutor or public defender who moves to escape a credible threat of violence. |
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Copyright Metropolitan News Company, 1999