Thursday, October 17, 2013
Page 11
SNIPPETS (Column)
MABA, Other Groups to Hear Remarks by Judge Harry Pregerson
The Mexican American Bar Association and other groups have slated an Oct. 23 talk by Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Harry Pregerson.
His remarks will kick off a program on “A Blueprint for Effective and Humane Immigration Reform.”
Other sponsoring organizations are the American Constitution Society. the Multicultural Bar Alliance, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
A panel discussion will follow, led by Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF. Participants will include Hiroshi Motomura, the Susan Westerberg Prager professor of law at UCLA School of Law.
The event will take place at MALDEF National Headquarters, 634 S. Spring Street, in downtown Los Angeles.
A reception will start at 5:30 p.m., with the program scheduled for 6:30- 8:50 p.m.
Two hours of MCLE credit will be provided.
Reservations are available by telephoning MABA at (213) 749-2889 or e-mailing mabalacogisbcglobal.net.
Law students will be admitted at no cost; others will be asked to pay a “suggested donation” of $25 to benefit MALDEF’s Immigrant Rights Program.
•Bob Filner, erstwhile mayor of San Diego, reached a deal with the Office of Attorney General Kamala Harris under which he will spend no time in jail in connection with sexual misconduct charges. On Tuesday, he pled guilty to one felony count of false imprisonment, as well as two misdemeanor counts of battery.
A respected veteran observer of politics and the courts scoffs, in an e-mail:
House confinement for 3 months for felony false imprisonment?!?! And two counts of battery. What happened to all the other batteries he [allegedly] committed? So he gets to stay home and watch football on television, read books and magazines and take naps. Where can I plead guilty for that kind of punishment?
Not run for public office? This is a joke, right? The dude is 70 years old, has been publicly outed in the national press for despicable behavior, resigned in disgrace and lost his contributor base. How in the hell could he ever run for public office even if he wanted to?
That Kamala really knows how to stack the penalties. But wait, there’s more:
Gives up his mayoral pension? Probably worth 75 cents a year for serving couple of years as mayor. What about his congressional pension? Probably worth plenty after 20 years of feeding at the Congressional trough. How many women did he harass in D.C.?
Not possess a firearm? What firearm? He doesn’t know a barrel from a butt. (Wait a minute; he is very familiar with butts, just not the gun type.)
Not serve on a jury? Wow! What a punishment. How do I get that restriction?
•Christopher J. Warner, who served as a judge of the San Bernardino Superior Court from 1998-2010, is seeking a writ of mandate ordering CalPERS to pay him retirement benefits.
The state has taken the position that because he is garnering disability benefits—following the Commission on Judicial Performance granting him a disability retirement—he cannot also collect retirement benefits.
Warner, who is now working as a mediator with Judicate West, contends the statutes creating the two types of benefits do not render them mutually exclusive.
In a press release issued yesterday, Warner’s attorney, Michael J. Bidart of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley LLP, commented:
“Judge Warner, like all similarly situated judges sitting in California, contributed payments for both benefits. Unfortunately, after becoming disabled through no fault of his own, CalPERS has wrongfully determined that he is not now eligible for both.”
A hearing on the petition is slated to be heard in October 22, 2013 in Department G of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s East District Pomona Courthouse South.
•Erica R. Yew, a judge of the Santa Clara Superior Court, has been elected by members of the Commission on Judicial Performance as the group’s chair, and former State Bar President Anthony P. “Tony” Capozzi was selected as vice chair.
Yew, who succeeds attorney Lawrence J. Simi as head of the judicial disciplinary body, has been a judge since her appointment in 2001. She is a former member of the State Bar Board of Governors.
Capozzi was admitted to the State Bar in 1976 and has maintained his own law office in Fresno since 1979.
Copyright 2013, Metropolitan News Company