By a Staff Writer

The Commission on Judicial Performance has instituted formal proceedings against Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patrick B. Murphy, the commission reported late yesterday.

The nature of the proceedings could not be immediately determined, as no one was available at the offices of the commission or of Murphy's lawyer, Edward Moses of Moses & Associates in Fullerton.

But Murphy has previously acknowledged in court papers being under investigation by the commission in connection with a series of financial transfers that are also the subject of two lawsuits in federal court.

The plaintiffs in those suits claim that Murphy helped a close friend, Dr. George Taus, conceal from the doctor's ex-wife a portion of the funds to which she was entitled as a result of a marital settlement agreement. One of the cases is set for trial in U.S. District Court April 11.

Murphy has also been under criminal investigation in connection with those transfers. The District Attorney's Office has previously said it was looking into the matters, and a federal grand jury took testimony from a close associate of Taus, Arnold Secord, in December.

Taus and Secord are co-defendants of Murphy in the civil suits.

In addition, Murphy's then-presiding judge, Rolf M. Treu of the former Citrus Municipal Court, said he notified the commission last June regarding Murphy's frequent absences from the court. Treu said he gave the notice pursuant to a law requiring that the commission be informed whenever a judge had been absent for 90 days within a 12-month period.

Murphy, who claims to have heart problems, has not sat since April, when the district attorney's investigation was confirmed, except for a brief period in September. He hasn't heard cases since then, although he did appear at the Citrus courthouse after normal business hours one day last month in order to take the oath as a Superior Court judge, a position to which he was elevated by court unification.