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Tuesday,
Aug. 31, 1999 |
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A
report on where |
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Presiding
Justice Anthony Kline Cleared by Commission on Judicial Performance...Davis
Sends Names of Superior Court Judges Paul Boland, Kathryn Doi Todd and
Robert Mallano to JNE Commission...Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien
Retires
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Judges,
Lawyers Under Scrutiny
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Nancy Brown
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge
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The Commission on Judicial Performance heard argument Aug. 18 on charges of misconduct against Brown, who currently sits in juvenile court. Brown's attorney, Ephraim Margolin, said it is impossible to predict how or when the commission will rule. The special masters who heard evidence on the charges 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, a lesser level of culpability. 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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Trial is set for Oct. 12 on charges that Hermo, who retired in March of last year after 30 years on the court, helped a bailiff cover up the escape of a prisoner in January of last year. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Ito last month denied two motions to dismiss charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice against Hermo and suspended Deputy Sheriff Al Garces. 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 this month officially announced its 8-1 decision to dismiss the case against Kline. The charges 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. The commission largely adopted the position taken by Kline and the California Judges Association that a judicial officer could not be subjected to discipline based on the content of an opinion, absent bad faith. |
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Discovery is underway in two civil suits against Murphy, who apparently remains under investigation by the District Attorney's Office regarding a complex series of financial transfers in which the judge may have been involved in 1996 and 1997. Murphy returned to the bench last month, after his presiding judge notified the Commission on Judicial Performance that the judge, who was elected to the court in 1992, had been absent from court based on asserted illness for more than 90 days in a 12-month period. Murphy hadn't taken the bench since April, when the existence of the district attorney's investigation was confirmed. The investigation and suits involve transfers which appear to have been initiated by Dr George Taus, a physician and close friend of Murphy. In one suit, 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. In the other, the 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. 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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A scheduled July 26 deposition of Trammell in a suit stemming from his secret sexual relationship with a woman who was a defendant in a case before him has been postponed. That relationship is also the subject of an ongoing civil rights investigation by the Justice Department, sources said. Trammell, a judge from 1971 to 1997 who abruptly quit the bench two years ago when the relationship became public, has 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. 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. San Francisco attorney Marsha Berzon, 53, won a 10-8 vote of approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 1. Republicans Orrin Hatch of Utah and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania joined with eight Democrats in supporting the nomination, while eight Republicans voted no. U.S. District Judge Richard Paez of the Central District of California won an identical 10-8 vote of approval by the committee on July 30, the same day that Associate U.S. Attorney General Raymond Fisher, a former Los Angeles attorney and former Police Commission president, was cleared by a voice vote of the committee. Fisher 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, was a law clerk to the late Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, as was Berzon. Berzon was nominated Jan. 27 of last year to succeed Judge John T. Noonan, who took senior status at the beginning of 1997. Action was delayed as conservative senators submitted multiple sets of written questions concerning cases she has handled on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. Some senators say they oppose her nomination because she her views are consistent with those of what they say is an overly liberal majority on the court. No Senate floor action has been scheduled on her nomination. 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. Berzon and Paez are among four previous nominees who were not considered by the Senate in past years and were renominated Jan. 26. The others are San Francisco attorney Barry P. Goode and Seattle attorney Ronald Gould. 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. Honolulu attorney James E. Duffy Jr., 57, a former president of both the Hawaii State Bar Association and the Hawaii Trial Lawyers Association, 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. 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 in May that she was withdrawing because her husband is seriously ill. |
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Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gary Feess was confirmed by unanimous voice vote of the Senate July 1. His swearing-in will leave four vacancies on the court. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper was nominated July 14 to succeed Judge Linda McLauglin, who died March 6 of injuries sustained in an auto accident. 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. |
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 this month sent the names of Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Paul Boland, Kathryn Doi Todd, and Robert Mallano to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as potential appointees to the court. They join Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Candace Cooper, whose name was sent to the commission in May, as prospective appointees. The court currently has only one associate justice vacancy, in Div. Two where Morio Fukuto retired Feb. 14. But funding for additional positions will be available next year as a result of the passage of the state budget in June, and legislation to create those seats is now pending in Sacramento. 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 next month. ________________________________ Seats in other districts are filled. |
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Los Angeles Superior Court Five judges have retired this year—Victor Barrera March 2, Enrique Romero March 7, Sherman Smith and Joseph Kalin April 4, and Robert H. O'Brien Aug. 16. None have been replaced, as Gov. Gray Davis has yet to make his first judicial appointment. Future vacancies will occur when Judge Jaime Corral retires on Labor Day, Judge Edward Ross on Sept. 9, and Judge Stephen Lachs on Oct. 3. In addition, Judge Gary Feess will join the federal bench a week from today, and Judge Robert Altman said he expects to retire when he completes 20 years of service in March of next year. Judge Robert Mallano has been assigned to Div. Two of this district's Court of Appeal through September, Judge Victoria Chavez to Div. Seven through October, and Judge Harvey Schneider to Div. Three through November. |
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Municipal Courts, Los Angeles County Glendale Long Beach Judge G. William Dunn retired April 30. Los Angeles Commissioner Anthony Filosa retired July 15. Commissioner Alan Lasher retired March 9. 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. Judge William Weisman is assigned to Div. Five of this district's Court of Appeal through October. Long Beach Los Cerritos |
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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 August
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—SB 69, by Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, passed the Assembly on a 77-0 vote on Aug. 23 and was sent to the Senate. The bill 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 on a 63-10 vote Aug. 19 and cleared the Senate on a 27-1 vote Aug. 26. The measure, which was sent to the governor, 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 signed by the governor July 28. The new law will establish certain rights for attorneys in the State Bar's discipline process, call for the appointment of some State Bar Court judges by the governor and Legislature, and require the State Bar to compile statistics to determine whether the process is biased against solo practitioners and lawyers in small firms. SB 143 will take effect Jan. 1, but only if SB 144, below, also is signed. —SB 144, by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, passed the Assembly on a 47-31 vote Aug. 19, cleared the Senate on a 24-14 vote Aug. 24, and was sent to the governor Aug. 26. The bill would set State Bar dues at $395 for most lawyers and would limit the State Bar's lobbying activity. —SB 976, by Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, passed the Assembly on a 69-8 vote Aug. 23 and was sent to the Senate. The measure would increase a number of benefits for judges and their survivors covered by the Judges Retirement System II. —AB 592, by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, was sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee's "suspense file" Aug. 16. 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 Assembly on a 77-0 vote Aug. 16 and was sent to the governor. 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. |
Copyright Metropolitan News Company, 1999