End of the Month

Nov.
30,
2001

A report on where
things
stand

Seven Superior Court Contests Loom on March Ballot...Couwenberg Asks Supreme Court for Chance to Return to Practice...Ninth Circuit Judge Procter Hug Jr. to Take Senior Status

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Vicki M. Roberts
Attorney and former Superior Court candidate

Roberts, who lost a runoff to David Mintz for an open seat on the Superior Court in November of last year, was charged last May with misdemeanor counts of arson and conspiracy in connection with an alleged arson-for-profit scheme.

ROBERTS

The Los Angeles sole practitioner, who called the charges an example of "prosecution run amock," is accused of encouraging a former client and current co-defendant to burn a building for insurance money.

Roberts told the MetNews that the allegations are false, and that she has "never seen" the building in question.

Roberts' home was searched in December 1998, pursuant to a warrant. Investigators removed about 45 boxes of documents, including records Roberts claims are subject to the attorney-client and work-product privileges.

Roberts, who is represented by Los Angeles attorney Richard Sherman, demurred to the complaint. The demurrer is pending, as is a motion to disqualify the District Attorney's Office for conflict of interest.

Roberts has also sued the city of Los Angeles and the District Attorney's Office, claiming the search of her home violated her civil rights. U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson dismissed the action, based on the Rooker-Feldman doctrine prohibiting lower federal courts from interfering in state judicial proceedings.

In her appeal, which is currently pending before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Roberts argues that an exception to the doctrine applies because she was not given a full and fair hearing on her constitutional claims in state court.

Patrick Couwenberg
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

Couwenberg, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge since 1997, is not challenging his removal from office by the Commission on Judicial Performance, but has asked the high court to refer the matter to the State Bar Court for a ruling on whether he is fit to practice law.

COUWENBERG

A judge who is removed is barred by the state Constitution from returning to practice unless the Supreme Court orders otherwise.

The commission found that Couwenberg misrepresented his educational and military backgrounds to various sources, including the governor who appointed him and the commission itself.

Couwenberg's lawyers said the judge deserved an opportunity to remain in office. They argued that his statements were not malicious, but were the product of a psychological impairment, and presented testimony before a panel of special masters from both prosecutors and defense attorneys attesting to the judge's fairness and competence.

Couwenberg admitted that he falsely claimed to hold a master's degree in psychology and made false claims of military experience, including an award of a Purple Heart, in Vietnam.

The commission found that he also lied in sworn testimony by claiming to have participated in covert operations with the CIA in Southeast Asia in 1967 and 1968. Couwenberg testified that those claims are true, although he no longer maintains he was with the CIA and said he didn't know what agency he was working for.

A CIA official testified at a special masters' hearing that Couwenberg wasn't working for that agency and that it's highly unlikely that any other agency would have recruited Couwenberg for operations in Laos because no such missions were authorized.

Couwenberg claimed that some of his misstatements were intended to be humorous. Other statements, he claimed, were typed onto official forms by his wife, based on statements he had made to her 20 years earlier, a claim the commission found lacking in credibility.

A psychiatrist testified that the judge suffers from "pseudologica fantastica," a symptom of low self-esteem rooted in the judge's early childhood in what is now Indonesia followed by difficult relocations, first to Holland and then to the United States.

The doctor said that the condition causes Couwenberg to mix fact and fantasy, but that it is treatable with therapy and doesn't render him unfit for judicial service.

The commission, however, largely agreed with a psychiatrist called by commission lawyers at the masters' hearing. Psychological testing data, Dr. James Rosenberg said, doesn't show that the judge's "repetitive lying" as an adult is due to childhood trauma, nor that he suffers from any recognized mental illness.

James Simpson
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

Simpson, who became a Glendale Municipal Court judge in 1994 and joined the Superior Court through unification last year, has applied for disability retirement.

SIMPSON

Simpson has been under preliminary investigation by the Commission on Judicial Performance, and the investigation is apparently still open.

The investigation centers on charges that Simpson attempted to influence court commissioners in their handling of traffic cases involving friends of the judge.

The judge, who is currently on extended medical leave, is also accused of bringing his dog into court at the conclusion of jury trials and introducing him as the "low-budget bailiff."

Other allegations are that Simpson discussed personal business on the telephone while court was in session, and that he stood in his chambers bathroom "urinating with the door wide open" after giving his court clerk permission to enter.

Judicial Elections

There will be seven Los Angeles Superior Court contests on the March 5 ballot, four for open seats and three challenges of sitting judges, assuming that candidates who have filed declarations of intent to run return their nomination documents by next Friday's deadline.

Seeking election are:
• Office No. 2-Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Jeffrey Marckese, Santa Monica attorney Joseph Deering, Deputy District Attorney Hank Goldberg, and Workers' Compensation Judge Donald Renetzky.

Marckese has retained campaign consultant Parke Skelton, who worked on his unsuccesful race last year. Renetzky is being assisted by Hermosa Beach-based consultant Fred Huebcher.

• Office No. 39-Deputy District Attorneys Richard Naranjo and Craig Renetzky and Acton attorney Larry H. Layton. Renetzky, the son of Office No. 2 candidate Donald Renetzky, has also retained Huebscher.

• Office No. 40-Judge Floyd Baxter and former Newhall Municipal Court Commissioner Ross Alan Stucker. Huebscher is Baxter's campaign consultant.

• Office No. 53-Deputy District Attorney Lauren Weis, former Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Richard Espinoza, mid-Wilshire practitioner Richard S. Harrison, State Bar Court Judge Michael D. Marcus, Encino attorney Thomas H. Warden and Covina lawyer H. Don Christian. Weis has retained Huebscher as her consultant.

• Office No. 67-Deputy District Attorney David Gelfound, Pasadena attorney David Crawford, State Bar Court Judge Paul Bacigalupo, and Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Steven K. Lubell. Gelfound has retained Huebscher's services.

• Office No. 90-Judge C. Robert Simpson Jr. and Glendale attorney Kenneth E. Wright. Simpson has retained Cerrell Associates Inc. as his consultant.

• Office No. 100-Judge Reginald Dunn and Deputy District Attorney Richard Walmark. (Two candidates who filed declarations of intent to run, with the express expectation that Dunn wouldn't file, said they will not return papers for the seat. They are Warden and Superior Court Commissioner Glenda Veasey. Warden, however, said he will run for Office No. 100, rather than Office No. 53, if Dunn doesn't return the nomination documents.)

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth Circuit

There are three vacancies on the 28-judge court, with another one slated when Judge Procter Hug Jr. takes senior status Jan. 1.

Judge James Browning took senior status Sept. 1 of last year. Previous vacancies resulted when Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall took senior status Aug. 31, 1997 and when the late Judge Charles E. Wiggins took senior status Dec. 31, 1996.

President Bush resubmitted the nominations of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl and Hawaii attorney and Republican activist Richard R. Clifton on Sept. 4.

Kuhl and Clifton were originally nominated June 22. The nominations were returned to the president on Aug. 3 when a disagreement over other nominees resulted in the Senate returning all pending nominations.

Senate rules require that all pending nominations be returned to the president prior to a recess absent unanimous consent.

Kuhl, 48, is a six-year veteran of the Superior Court bench. She previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice as a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith, and worked in the office of the solicitor general during the Reagan administration.

President Clinton's nominees for the Hall and Wiggins seats, attorneys Joseph Duffy Jr. of Honolulu and Barry Goode of San Francisco, never received confirmation hearings. Goode now serves as legal affairs secretary to Gov. Gray Davis.

MORENO

Judge Carlos Moreno was confirmed as a California Supreme Court justice Oct. 17, creating a sixth vacancy.

Earlier vacancies resulted from Judge J. Spencer Letts taking senior status Dec. 19, the elevation of Judge Richard Paez to the Ninth Circuit in March of last year, Judge William Keller's taking senior status Oct. 29, 1999, and the retirement of Judge John Davies and Judge Kim Wardlaw's elevation to the Ninth Circuit, both of which occurred in July 1998.

A procedure for naming successors was announced by U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Judiciary Advisory Committee chair Gerald Parsky.

Parsky, a West Los Angeles attorney and investment banker, was President Bush's state campaign chair. The committee has four subcommittees, one for each district.

Under an agreement between the White House and the two Democratic senators, three members of each subcommittee were chosen by Parsky and three by the two senators. The subcommittee, by majority vote, will recommend three to five people for each vacancy, and Parsky will review the choices and advise the president.

There are no vacancies.

First District

Presiding Justice Gary Strankman retired from Div. One July 31.

Presiding Justice Daniel Hanlon retired from Div. Four Dec. 31.

Justice Herbert W. Walker retired from Div. Three at the end of March.

Div. Five also has a vacancy, a new position as a result of Senate Bill 1857, which took effect Jan. 1.

This District (Second District)

Candace Cooper, formerly an associate justice in Div. Two, was confirmed and sworn in Nov. 21 as presiding justice of Div. Eight, created by SB 1857. Also confirmed and sworn in that day was Paul Boland, formerly a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, as an associate justice of Div. Eight.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith Ashmann faces a Dec. 7 confirmation hearing for the Div. Two seat vacated by Cooper.

One vacancy remains in Div. Eight. Among those who have been evaluated by the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and could be appointed to that post are Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Gregory Alarcon, Laurie Zelon and Madeline Flier and Ventura Superior Court Judge Melinda Johnson.

Third District

There is one vacancy, a new position created by SB 1857.

Fourth District

Richard Aronson, formerly an Orange Superior Court judge, was confirmed and sworn in Nov. 21 as a justice in Div. Three, filling one of two seats created by SB 1857. The other seat established by that act is still vacant, as is the seat of Justice Thomas Crosby, who retired June 1.

Div. One and Div. Two each have a vacancy created by SB 1857.

Fifth District

There is one vacancy, a newly created position under SB 1857.

Sixth District

Presiding Justice Christopher Cottle retired Aug. 31. There is also a newly created position under SB 1857.

Los Angeles County

There are 18 vacancies, including the seat of Judge Patrick Couwenberg, who is not contesting the order of the Commission on Judicial Performance removing him from the bench.

Other recent vacancies were created by the elevations of Judge Laurence Rubin, on Oct. 22, and Judge Paul Boland, on Nov. 21, to the Court of Appeal, and by the Nov. 5 retirement of Judge Richard Charvat.

Ten judges retired earlier this year-Thomas Allen Jan. 2, Thomas Schneider Feb. 6, Harvey Schneider April 16, Paul Metzler May 1, Richard Kalustian May 8, Arnold Gold May 21, Kenneth Chotiner May 31, Kurt J. Lewin Aug. 16, Elva Soper Sept. 30 and David Perez Oct. 5.

Other vacancies resulted from the deaths of Judge Stephen O'Neill July 10 and Judge Ronald Cappai July 17, the May 4 resignation of Judge Patrick Murphy, and the creation of a new position under SB 1857, effective Jan. 1.

Further vacancies are slated. Judge Elvira Austin, who had originally planned to leave this month, has postponed her departure until Jan. 7. Judges David B. Finkel and James Albracht will retire Jan. 27, and Judge Michael Pirosh is leaving at the end of January.

The court is currently conducting a runoff for a commissioner vacancy. The candidates are Referee Mitchell Beckloff and Deputy District Attorney Scott M. Gordon, and results are expected next week.

Bills Affecting the Legal Community

The Legislature is out of session.