There is one vacancy, in the seat of Judge Stephen Trott, who took senior status in 2004.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on July 19 approved the nomination of Magistrate Judge Fernando M. Olguin, nominated May 14 to fill the vacancy created by Judge Jacqueline Nguyen’s elevation to the Ninth Circuit.
On July 12, the committee approved the nomination of Jesus G. Bernal, deputy federal public defender in charge of the Riverside office, to succeed Judge Stephen G. Larson. President Obama nominated him April 25 to a seat that had been vacant since Larson resigned Nov. 2, 2009.
Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank took senior status March 1.

There are no vacancies.

Judge John Shook retired July 15 of last year, Judge Martha Bellinger July 31, Judge Judith Champagne Sept. 1, Judge Michael Latin Sept. 5, Judge Maral Injejikian Sept. 6, Judge Peter D. Lichtman Oct. 31, Judge Rita Baird Dec. 30, and Judge Burt Pines Dec. 31.
Judge Marjorie Steinberg retired Feb. 14 of this year, Judge Jacqueline Connor Feb. 24, Judge Carl J. West Feb. 29, Judge Gary Hahn March 7, Judge Rose Hom March 27, Judge Anita Dymant April 10, and Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani May 11. Judge Gary E. Daigh retired July 16 and Judge Judith Vander Lans July 31.
Commissioner George Kalinski retired at the end of June.
Among those whose names have been sent to the JNE Commission as possible appointees to the court are Irvine attorney James L. Crandall, Deputy County Counsel Julie Ann Silva; Deputy Public Defenders Enrique Monguia, Lee W. Tsao and Johan ElFarrah; Deputy District Attorneys Kathleen Tuttle and Brentford Ferreira; Montebello attorney and school board member Edwin Chau, who is also running for the state Assembly; Los Angeles attorney Douglas W. Stern; Glendale attorney Kenneth Wright, Court of Appeal staff attorneys Kenneth E. Roberson and Kim Nguyen; Superior Court Commissioners Sharon Lewis Miller, Mark Zuckman, David Cowan, Lloyd Loomis, Lori Behar, Dennis Mulcahy and Kenneth Taylor; Los Angeles attorney Angel Navarro; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wesley Hsu.

The Legislature took the following action on bills of interest to the legal community in September.

•AB 1875, by Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Burbank, which would, with exceptions, require court approval to depose a witness for more than seven hours. Employment cases and expert witness depositions would be exempt. Depositions in complex cases would be exempt, except that if a witness in such a case suffers from a terminal illness, the deposition would be limited to two seven-hour days. The bill allows a party who comes into a case after a witness has been deposed to conduct a new deposition of that witness. The bill was signed into law Sept. 17.

•AB 2364, by Assemblymember Donald P. Wagner, R-Irvine, that would establish centralized procedures for execution of levies on multi-branch banks. The bill was signed into law by the governor Sept. 23.

•AB 2466, by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys, which would allow a court to order the preservation of the assets and property of persons charged with human trafficking. The bill was signed into law Sept. 24.

•AB 2610, by Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, which will require purchasers of foreclosed homes to give tenants at least 90 days before starting eviction proceedings. If the tenant has a fixed-term lease, the new owner must honor the lease unless the owner demonstrates that certain exceptions intended to prevent fraudulent leases apply. The bill was signed by the governor Sept. 25.

•AB 2611, by Assemblymember Betsy Butler, D-Marina Del Rey, relating to veterans’ treatment courts. The bill was vetoed Sept. 23. The governor said in his veto message that the bill was unnecessary because veterans’ treatment courts already exist in many counties and courts in other counties have the authority to create them.

•AB 2612, by Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian, R-San Luis Obispo, increasing from $150 to $275 per day the amount that must be tendered to secure the attendance of certain public employees, including peace officers and firefighters, pursuant to subpoena. The governor signed the bill into law Sept. 19.

•AB 2685, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which would set 2013 State Bar dues in the present amount, without the $10 rebate authorized last year. The bill was signed by the governor Sept. 17.

•SB 1186, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, which would establish notice requirements for an alleged aggrieved party to follow before bringing an action against a business for an alleged violation of the disability access laws, and would require that the responsible party be allowed 90 days to fix the violation before the aggrieved party could file a treble-damage suit as permitted by existing law. was amended in the Assembly Aug. 24. As amended, the bill would, among other things, require attorneys to include their State Bar numbers on demand letters, prohibit inclusion in such letters of demands for payment of money, and allow a court to consider the conduct of the plaintiff in determining the amount of statutory damages. The bill was signed into law Sept. 19.