Monday, June 10, 2019
Page 3
Case Remanded With Order That It Not Be Returned to Judge Real
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday directed that a case, on remand, be assigned to a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California other than Senior Judge Manuel Real, marking the 24th time in the past 10 years it has issued an anyone-but-Real order.
In a memorandum opinion, a three-judge panel reversed an order by Real, 95, dismissing with prejudice an action under the under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act brought on behalf of a youth, “E.B.,” against the Baldwin Park Unified School District
The opinion says:
“The district court abused its discretion in dismissing the action sua sponte for lack of prosecution after E.B. did not appear at a pretrial conference….The district court failed to consider less drastic alternatives….In addition, the district court failed to warn E.B. that dismissal was imminent after E.B. missed filing deadlines….Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.”
The case is E.B. v. Baldwin Park Unified School District, 17-56803
Real, appointed in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, has been on the bench 52 years and 215 days, and is the nation’s seniormost federal judge. At the time he went on senior status on Nov. 4, 2018, he had served 52 years and one day.
He was chief judge from 1982-93. In 2008, the Ninth Circuit publicly reprimanded him based on abusing his powers in a bankruptcy case.
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