Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Page 1
Services Tomorrow for Former Court of Appeal Justice McDaniel
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A memorial gathering in Lake Arrowhead is scheduled for tomorrow for retired Court of Appeal Justice F. Douglas McDaniel, who died April 17 at the age of 87.
McDaniel served in the Fourth District’s Div. Two from 1974 until his retirement in 1990, and continued to serve as an assigned judge until 1999.
McDaniel was born July 13, 1920 in Akron Ohio. He graduated from Purdue University in Indiana with honors in 1942, and served as a transport pilot in the United States Marine Corps Reserve during World War II.
After the war, he attended Stanford Law School on the G.I. Bill. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1949 and began working for the Imperial Valley law firm of Horton & Knox. Two years later, he became a deputy district attorney for Imperial County, and became the chief civil deputy in 1954.
In 1959, McDaniel joined the El Centro firm of Byrd, Sturdevant, McDaniel & Pinney as a partner and remained there until his judicial nomination by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1974. He took the bench that same year.
He was active in the Imperial County Bar Association from 1949 to 1974, serving regularly as a delegate to what was then the State Bar Conference of Delegates. He served on the conference Executive Committee from 1968 to 1971.
McDaniel was known for writing many of his opinions without staff assistance. Among his most famous opinions are: California Shoppers, Inc. v. Royal Globe Ins. Co. (1985) 175 Cal.App.3d 1, which shaped the development of bad faith insurance litigation; Park Redlands Covenant Control Committee v. Simon (1986) 181 Cal.App. 3d 87, which invalidated certain restrictive covenants under the Unruh Civil Rights Act; and Beaumont Investors v. Beaumont-Cherry Valley Water District (1985) 165 Cal.App. 3d 227, which held that the government bears the burden of proving that a fee on consumers did not need to satisfy Proposition 13’s voter requirements.
Before joining the bench McDaniel was a campaign manager and fundraiser for Republican candidates. He also served as president of the San Bernardino Rotary Club and was active in other local community activities.
He was a practicing Nichiren Buddhist, and Cleveland Indians baseball fan.
Div. Two Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez, in a release yesterday, called McDaniel a “remarkable exemplar of the ‘greatest generation.’”
McDaniel is survived by his wife of 29 years, Joan McDaniel, as well as three children, two stepchildren, and four grandchildren.
Tomorrow’s service is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Lake Arrowhead Country Club, 250 Gold Course Road, in Lake Arrowhead.
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