Newspaper: Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Publication Date: Thursday, December 31, 2009

Page No.: 8

Headline: END OF THE MONTH: Richard Fine Seeks Emergency Writ From U.S. Supreme Court...Trial Date Set in Case of Inglewood Mayor and Ex-Judge Rossevelt Dorn...Fourth District Court of Appeal Justice Gaut to Retire

Byline: --

Body:

•Judicial Elections

The 2010 judicial election calendar commences Jan. 4, the first day for candidates to circulate paperwork in order to obtain signatures of registered votes to be submitted in lieu of a filing fee.

Among those who have declared their intent to run for open seats on the Los Angeles Superior Court are West Los Angeles attorney and mediator Elizabeth A. Moreno, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys Lou Holtz Jr. and Alan K. Schneider, Beverly Hills practitioner Mark Ameli, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Garcia, Superior Court Referee Randolph M. Hammock, Pasadena personal injury attorney Anthony de los Reyes, and Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Thomas J. Griego.

A source told the MetNews that Los Angeles attorney Douglas Weitzman, who has run twice previously, is planning to make another attempt. Weitzman did not return a MetNews phone call.

The only confirmed open seat thus far is that of Judge William Pounders said last month that he will be leaving the court after more than 27 years of judicial service.

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Richard A. Widom

Attorney

Widom, until recently a name partner at the workers’ compensation firm now known as Stockwell Harris Woolverton Muehl, was charged with misdemeanor spousal battery last month over an incident alleged to have occurred on March 1. The alleged victim is his wife Lisa Kerner, a vice president of the law firm.

Widom was terminated by the law firm and entered solo practice, a source said. The City Attorney’s Office’s Family Violence Unit brought the misdemeanor charge after deputy district attorneys rejected the case for felony prosecution.

Widom is scheduled to face a pretrial hearing Jan. 6 in Department 141.

John T. Doyle

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

Doyle, a Superior Court judge since 2000, entered a no-contest plea to a charge of driving with an excessive blood alcohol level and was placed on probation for three years and ordered to make restitution. Officials said he was arrested about 11:15 p.m. July 2 after officers with the LAPD’s South Traffic Division pulled him over in the 4500 block of Don Felipe Drive following a minor traffic collision.

Harvey Silberman

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

Orange Superior Court Judge Richard M. King, who is hearing charges of solicitation to commit bribery and solicitation to induce a candidate not to run for public office against Silberman and two political consultants, held a Dec. 4 hearing on motions to dismiss the charges under Penal Code Sec. 995 and took the matter under submission.

Silberman, a former commissioner who was elected last year as a judge, pled not guilty July 23. The charges stem from last year’s contest in which Silberman defeated Deputy District Attorney Serena Murillo for an open seat on the court.

Lori-Ann Jones

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner

Jones, a court commissioner since March 2006, was placed on paid administrative leave Sept. 18 following the release of grand jury transcripts in which she testified to having conveyed to then-judicial candidate Serena Murillo a suggestion that funds would be available to pay Murillo’s filing fee in the event she were willing to seek election to a judicial office other than that sought by then-Commissioner Harvey Silberman. Jones said she made the call as an accommodation to Evelyn Jerome Alexander, a campaign consultant who was representing Silberman at the time and who later represented Jones.

Mervyn H. Wolf

Encino Attorney

Wolf, a lawyer for 40 years, is scheduled for jury trial on five felony embezzlement counts Jan. 27 before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bob Bowers Jr. The trial was continued from Nov. 10.

Wolf is accused of having taken settlement funds from his clients in multiple personal injury, workers’ compensation, and wrongful termination cases between June 2003 and June 2004. He allegedly deposited settlement checks into his clients’ trust accounts, and then embezzled the funds.

Wolf was placed on involuntary inactive status by the State Bar Court July 10, 2006 and faces 23 disciplinary charges, including failure to deposit funds into a trust account, receiving an illegal fee, charging an unconscionable fee, failure to account for client funds, failure to release a client’s file, failure to pay client funds promptly, failure to account for client funds, conversion of funds sent to him by mistake, and multiple counts of failure to maintain funds in a trust account, misappropriation of client funds, and failure to cooperate in State Bar investigations.

He has had extensive contacts with the disciplinary system, having been placed on three years’ probation in 1995 for misconduct in three matters, suspended 45 days in 1998 for failing to comply with a condition of the earlier probation, placed on inactive status for a month in 2002 for failure to comply with MCLE requirements, and served a month on suspension in 2004 for nonpayment of bar dues.

Richard I. Fine

Disbarred Attorney

Fine this month sought emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on Nov. 24, denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his coercive imprisonment for civil contempt.

Fine has been confined to the Twin Towers jail since being held in contempt March 4 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe. His federal habeas corpus petition challenging that confinement was denied by U.S. District Judge John Walter of the Central District of California June 29.

Yaffe ordered Fine jailed for as long as he refuses to respond to questions asked at a judgment debtor examination, and jailed for five days for holding himself out as entitled to practice law after being placed on involuntary inactive status by the State Bar Court.

Fine, contends that he was denied due process and a jury trial when he was jailed. He also claims to be the victim of a vendetta by Los Angeles Superior Court judicial officers based on his litigation of suits in which he challenged Los Angeles County’s payment of benefits to Superior Court judges.

Those benefits were declared unconstitutional—as not being authorized by the Legislature—by the Fourth District Court of Appeal last year in a suit brought by the advocacy group Judicial Watch, but the governor in February signed into law a bill that allows counties to continue paying benefits to supplement the salaries of Superior Court judges and immunizing officials against any liability for having unlawfully paid such benefits in the past. A visiting judge, assigned to the Los Angeles Superior Court, upheld the new law in August.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 5 denied Fine’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of his disbarment by the state Supreme Court.

Fine, a lawyer for 35 years, asked the nation’s highest court to overturn the lifting of his license as a violation of his rights to free speech and due process. The state high court declined to review a State Bar Court ruling that Fine engaged in moral turpitude by continuously relitigating issues on which he had been ruled against.

State Bar Court Hearing Judge Richard Honn found in November 2007 that the lawyer engaged in a concerted campaign of litigation designed to harass judicial officers who had found against him, in particular Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Bruce Mitchell.

Roosevelt Dorn

Former Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

A jury trial date of Jan. 12 has been set in the case of Dorn, who served on the Inglewood Municipal Court and the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1979 until his election as mayor of Inglewood in 1997.

Dorn pled not guilty on July 24 of last year to charges of conflict of interest and misappropriation of public funds. He is alleged to have personally benefited from a loan program designed to assist city employees in purchasing and improving housing within the city.

Mitchell Roth

Former Superior Court Candidate

Roth, a candidate for the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2004, has filed for personal bankruptcy, stalling a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Jerry Brown July 6. The attorney general charged Roth and foreclosure consultant Paul Noe Jr. with having defrauded some 2,000 desperate homeowners into paying exorbitant fees for “phony lawsuits” to forestall foreclosure proceedings.

Noe did not answer the complaint, and a spokesman for Brown said a default judgment was being sought.

The complaint alleges that the suits were filed and abandoned, even though homeowners were charged $1,800 in upfront fees, at least $1,200 per month, and contingency fees of up to 80 percent of a home’s value.

The Los Angeles Superior Court assumed jurisdiction over Roth’s law practice in February, allowing the State Bar to take control of his Sherman Oaks, San Diego and Riverside law offices. The State Bar said Roth had been hospitalized due to severe depression, leaving several clients in foreclosure defense litigation cases subject to losing their homes and facing eviction.

Roth did not contest the takeover of his practice or the State Bar’s subsequent motion to place him on involuntary inactive status, which was granted by State Bar Court Judge Richard Honn on April 23. Roth tendered his resignation from the State Bar on May 29 rather than face disciplinary charges.

LaJetta Y. Wright

Long Beach Attorney

Wright, a former treasurer of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, faces sentencing Feb. 2 after pleading guilty July 29 to charges she embezzled $26,000 from the group in 2004. The sentencing was continued from Dec. 2.

•Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Federal Courts

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There has been a vacancy on the court since Judge Stephen Trott took senior status Dec. 31, 2004. There is also a newly created position that has not been filled, and Judge Michael Daly Hawkins is scheduled to take senior status Feb. 12, 2010.

U.S. District Court

President Obama’s first appointee to the court, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen, was confirmed by the Senate Dec. 1 by a vote of 97-0. The president nominated Nguyen July 31 to succeed Judge Nora Manella, who resigned to become a justice of this district’s Court of Appeal in 2006. She was unanimously rated “well qualified” by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Judiciary.

Obama’s other nominee to the court, labor lawyer Dolly Gee, had her nomination confirmed Dec. 24. Obama nominated Gee on Aug. 7 to succeed Judge George Schiavelli, who resigned Oct. 5 of last year. She was unanimously rated “qualified” by the ABA committee.

There are also vacancies as a result of Judge Alicemarie Stotler taking senior status Jan. 5 and Judge Stephen G. Larson resigning Nov. 2 to join the law firm of Girardi | Keese.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper has scheduled her retirement for March 15 and is expected to become a private judge.

State Courts

California Supreme Court

There are no vacancies.

Court of Appeal

This District (Second District)

Justice Tricia Bigelow of Div. Eight was nominated Dec. 29 to succeed Presiding Justice Candace Cooper of that division. Cooper retired Dec. 31 of last year.

The names of Orange Superior Court Presiding Judge Kim G. Dunning and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ross M. Klein have been sent by the governor to the JNE Commission as possible appointees to the court.

Third District

Justice Fred Morrison retired at the end of January. Justice Rodney Davis retired Feb. 16. The name of Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jaime R. Roman has been sent to the JNE Commission as a possible appointee to the court.

Fourth District

Justice Barton Gaut is retiring from Div. Two Feb. 28.

Seats in other districts are filled.

Los Angeles Superior Court

Judge Brett Klein retired Nov. 30, Judge Bob T. Hight Nov. 1, Judge Josh Fredricks Sept. 12 and Judge Judith Chirlin Sept. 15. Previous vacancies resulted from the retirements of Judges John Farrell July 7, Aviva K. Bobb June 8, and Robert O’Neill April 6; the conversion to judgeships of the commissioner positions previously held by Randall Pacheco, John Rafferty, Jack Gold, Henry J. Hall, and Harold Vites, and the resignation of Judge Alice Hill.

Pacheco and Hall are now judges; Rafferty, Gold, and Vites retired. Hill resigned June 12 to become counselor to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

A newly created position on the court was to have been funded as of last June 1, but legislation in response to the state budget crisis postponed the effective date, first to June 1 of this year, and then to June 1 of next year.

Additional vacancies will occur when Judges Terry Friedman and William Chidsey retire in February, when Judge Michael Mink retires around March 1, and when Judge Jacqueline Nguyen joins the federal bench.

Judge Paul Gutman is on sick leave. Judge Harvey Silberman is disqualified while under felony indictment.

Among those whose names have gone to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are Assistant U.S. Attorney Carla Ford; former Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden, now in private practice; former Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Vaughn, now a managing director of the litigation and consulting firm FTI Consulting, Inc.; criminal defense specialist Steven Cron of Santa Monica; Los Angeles Assistant City Attorney Gary Geuss; Los Angeles Deputy City Attorneys Timothy R. Saito, Richard Kraft and Edward J. Perez; state Deputy Attorneys General Karen M Ackerson-Brazille, Steven D. Matthews, Emilio E. Varanini IV, Victoria Wilson, Paul Roadarmel Jr., Robert S. Henry and Kenneth Byrne; Administrative Law Judge Robert Helfand; Deputy District Attorneys Sean Hassett, Teresa Sullivan, Frances D. Young, Jennifer Lentz Snyder, Joseph Markus, Steven I. Katz, Alison S. Matsumoto, Shellie Samuels, Jeffrey Gootman, John D. Harlan II and Laura Laesecke; Commissioners Reva Goetz, Scott Gordon, Michele Fleurer, Cynthia Zuzga, John Slawson, Rocky L. Crabb, Michael Convey, Joel Wallenstein, Dennis Mulcahy, Marilyn Kading Martinez, Mary Lou Katz Byrne, Steven Berman, Mark Zuckman and Loren DiFrank; U.S. District Court attorney Amy L. Lew; Irvine attorney Raymond Earl Brown; Deputy Federal Public Defender Angel Navarro; Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jerome J. Haig; Deputy Public Defender Lisa Brackelmans; Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer Martin Joseph Murphy; Los Angeles attorneys Stephen Fleischman, Marc Marmaro, David Herriford, Philip J. Ganz Jr., Marshall Mintz, Anthony de los Reyes, Howard Fields, Michael Wilner, Shan K. Thever, John L. Carlton, David Fields, Adrienne Krikorian, Eulanda Matthews and Lawrence P. Brennan Jr.; Century City attorney Howard S. Fredman; Pasadena attorney Warren Gilbert; Glendale attorney Mark J. MacCarley; Tujunga lawyer John K. Raleigh; Woodland Hills attorney John Cha; Westlake Village attorney Michael Nebenzahl; and Karlene Goller, counsel for the Los Angeles Times.

Michael Shultz, previously a Loyola Law School professor, was sworn in Dec. 14 as the successor to Commissioner H.M. “Trip” Webster III, who retired March 30. Shultz is sitting in Compton.

Nancy Pogue, a former deputy public defender who was elected Nov. 5 to succeed Commissioner John C. Lawson II, took up her first permanent assignment Dec. 1 at Central Civil West. Lawson was appointed a judge Sept. 1.

Commissioner Michael Duffy retired Aug. 30. Commissioner Patrick Larkin is on medical leave.

Commissioner Ralph Olson is set to retire between March and June, a court spokesperson said. Commissioner Dennis Shanklin has scheduled Jan. 22 as his last working day and his retirement will be official on March 15.

•Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The Legislature did not sit in regular session during December.