End of the Month

Judicial Campaigns Head Toward Primary Showdowns...Walter A. Karabian Assault Trial Set for July...Senate Judiciary Committee, on Party Lines, Approves Nomination of Goodwin Liu to Ninth Circuit

Judicial Elections

The following judicial contests will appear on the June 8 primary ballot. (Official ballot designations in parentheses.):

• Office No. 28—Edward J. Nison (Criminal Homicide Prosecutor), Kim Smith (Criminal Prosecutor), Mark K. Ameli (Arbitrator/Mediator/Litigator), Kendall C. (Ken) Reed (Attorney/Arbitrator/Mediator), Chris Garcia (Criminal Prosecutor), C. Edward Mack (Criminal Trial Attorney), Elizabeth Moreno (Arbitrator/Mediator) and Randy Hammock (Superior Court Referee), for the seat now held by Judge Emily Stevens. Campaign consultants working in the race are Fred Huebscher for Smith, David Gould for Ameli, Cerrell Associates Inc. for Garcia, and Jill Barad for Hammock.

• Office No. 35—Soussan (Suzanne) Bruguera (Superior Court Judge) and Douglas W. Weitzman (Public Rights Attorney.) Huebscher is Bruguera’s consultant.

• Office No. 73—Marvin G. Fischler (Attorney/Mediator/Arbitrator) and Laura A. Matz (Superior Court Judge). David Gould is consulting with Matz.

• Office No. 107—R. Stephen Bolinger (Juvenile Advocate Attorney), Valerie Salkin (Gang Prosecutor) and Tony de los Reyes (Attorney/Hearing Officer) for the seat now held by Judge William Weisman, who has scheduled his retirement for May 11. Salkin has retained the Cerrell firm, while Barad is the consultant for de los Reyes.

• Office No. 117—Alan Schneider (Gang Homicide Prosecutor), Pattricia M. Vienna (Attorney-at-Law), Tom Griego (Criminal Prosecutor) and William M. Margolin (Consumer Trial Attorney), for the seat now held by Judge William Pounders. Huebscher is Schneider’s consultant, while Parke Skelton is working for Griego.

• Office No. 131—Jim Garo Baklayan (Civil Litigation Attorney) and Maren Elizabeth Nelson (Superior Court Judge). Nelson has retained Huebscher.

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Harvey Silberman
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge

The California Supreme Court last month denied petitions by Silberman, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge since January of last year, and by two campaign consultants for writs of mandate or prohibition requiring the trial court to dismiss a felony indictment for solicitation to induce a candidate not to run for public office.

A pretrial conference has been set for June 18 before Orange Superior Court Judge Richard M. King in Santa Ana, with trial to occur within 60 days thereafter.

Silberman and consultants Evelyn Jerome Alexander and Randy Steinberg are accused of offering monetary inducements to Deputy District Attorney Serena Murillo, whom Silberman—then a Superior Court commissioner—defeated in the June 2008 primary, to withdraw from the contest for that seat. King, who is hearing the case as an assigned Los Angeles Superior Court judge, earlier dismissed charges against the three defendants of soliciting bribes, but denied their motions to throw out the election-law charges.

Richard I. Fine
Disbarred Attorney

The U.S. Supreme Court this week denied Fine’s petition for a writ of certiorari to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied him habeas corpus relief from coercive imprisonment for contempt of court.

Fine is also seeking relief in state court. The 70-year-old onetime antitrust lawyer, on March 25, filed a “Demand for an Immediate Farr hearing” in the Los Angeles Superior Court.

The reference is to In Re Farr (1974) 36 Cal.App.3d 577, which held that a coercive contempt commitment for disobeying a court order becomes punitive, and thus subject to a five-day limit, “where disobedience of the order is based upon an established articulated moral principle” and there is no “substantial likelihood that continued commitment will accomplish the purpose of the order upon which the commitment is based.”

Fine has been confined to the Twin Towers jail since being held in contempt March 4 of last year by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe. 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.

The judgment debtor exam is part of an effort to collect sanctions imposed on Fine by Yaffe in the case of Marina Strand Colony II Homeowners Assn vs. County of Los Angeles, BS109420. Fine argued Yaffe should have disqualified himself from the outset of the case because he, like apparently every other Los Angeles Superior Court judge, has received benefits from the county over and above his state salary.

Yaffe said the argument, whether meritorious or not, was waived because Fine was aware of the payments at least 10 months before he raised the issue.

Walter Karabian
Attorney and Former Legislator

Karabian, a onetime majority leader of the California Assembly, faces a June 10 pretrial conference and July 19 trial in East Los Angeles on a misdemeanor charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Karabian allegedly hit a parking attendant with his car during a USC football game last year. Prosecutors charge that he tried to drive his car into a parking structure at Exposition Park at around noon on Dec. 5 but was stopped by the attendant, who told him he did not have the proper permit, and that he intentionally struck her with the car.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

On May 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7, along party lines, to approve the Feb. 24 nomination of UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to fill an open position on the court. Liu was unanimously rated “exceptionally well qualified” by the American Bar Association’s evaluating committee.

President Obama on March 25 nominated U.S. District Judge Mary H. Murguia of the District of Arizona to succeed Judge Michael Daly Hawkins, who took senior status Feb. 12. The ABA committee reported that a “substantial majority,” meaning 10 or more of the committee’s 15 members, had voted the nominee “qualified” and that the remainder—except for one abstention—found her “well qualified.”

There is one other vacant seat, previously held by Judge Stephen Trott, who took senior status in 2004.

Judge Andrew Kleinfeld is taking senior status June 12.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on March 18 favorably reported the nomination of Orange Superior Court Judge Josephine S. Tucker to succeed Judge Alicemarie Stotler, who took senior status Jan. 5 of last year. The president nominated Tucker, who was unanimously rated “well qualified” by the American Bar Association’s evaluation committee, on Feb. 4 and her hearing was held Feb. 18.

There are two vacancies for which no nominations have been made. Judge Florence-Marie Cooper died Jan. 15 and Judge Stephen G. Larson resigned Nov. 2 of last year to join the law firm of Girardi | Keese.

There are no vacancies.

Third District

Justice Fred Morrison retired at the end of January of last year. Justice Rodney Davis retired Feb. 16 of last year, and Justice Richard Sims III said he will retire sometime between October of this year and January of next year.

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.

Fifth District

Justice Steve Vartabedian is retired March 31.

Seats in other districts are filled.

Los Angeles Superior Court

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on April 8 named Irell and Manella partner Christine W. Byrd to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge John P. Farrell and named Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon and Deputy District Attorney Laura Walton to fill vacancies created by the conversion of court commissioner positions last July.

Byrd will sit in family court in San Fernando beginning June 14, Walton is in West Covina, and Gordon remains in family court downtown.

Judge Michael Mink retired on March 2, Judge William Chidsey on Feb. 26 and Judge Terry Friedman on Feb. 28. Earlier vacancies resulted from Judge Jacqueline Nguyen’s resignation in December to join the federal bench; the retirements of Judge Brett Klein on Nov. 30, Bob T. Hight on Nov. 1, Judith Chirlin on Sept. 15, and Josh Fredricks on Sept. 12; and the conversion to judgeships of two more commissioner positions since last July.

A newly created position on the court was to have been funded as of June 1, 2008, but legislation in response to the state budget crisis postponed the effective date, first to June 1 of last year, and then to June 1 of this year.

Judges Emily Stevens and William Weisman retired May 11. Judge Paul Gutman is on extended sick leave and might not return to the court. 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 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 Andrea Thompson, Teresa Sullivan, Sean Hassett, Frances D. Young, Jennifer Lentz Snyder, Joseph Markus, Steven I. Katz, Alison S. Matsumoto, Jeffrey Gootman and John D. Harlan II; Commissioners Lia Martin, 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 Marc Marmaro, David Herriford, Philip J. Ganz Jr., Marshall Mintz, Anthony de los Reyes, Howard Fields, Michael Wilner, Shan K. Thever, John L. Carlton, 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.

Commissioner Michael Duffy retired Aug. 30 of last year.

Commissioner Steven Lubell retired March 4, Commissioner Dennis Shanklin on March 15 and Commissioner Murray Gross on March 31.

Commissioner Patrick Larkin is on medical leave.

Commissioners Marc Lauper and Lori Jones retired at the end of last month.

Commissioner Ralph Olson is set to leave the bench after today and officially retire June 28. Commissioner Nicholas Taubert’s retirement becomes official June 30.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The following bills of interest to the legal community were acted upon in May:

•AB 585, by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, which will expand the definition of “deceased personality” for purposes of the law giving heirs and estates of those persons certain intellectual property rights for 70 years after the person dies. The expanded definition includes any natural person whose name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness has commercial value either at the time of his or her death, or because of his or her death. The governor signed the bill into law May 17.

•AB 1639, by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, which, as amended, would establish a mortgage foreclosure mediation program, in which lenders would be required to participate prior to foreclosing on residential properties. The bill was sent to the Appropriations Committee suspense file May 5.

•AB 1682, by Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Pomona, which, as amended, would permit local law enforcement agencies to establish procedures to have victims’ current addresses redacted from police reports. The bill failed in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on May 4 by a vote of 5-2.

•SB 408, by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, which would reenact the ban on possession of body armor by a convicted felon and define body armor as “any bullet-resistant material intended to provide ballistic and trauma protection for the person wearing the body armor.” The Court of Appeal for this district ruled in People v. Saleem (2009) 180 Cal.App.4th 254, review of which is now pending in the Supreme Court, that the previous version of the statute was void because a person of ordinary intelligence would not know whether an item he or she was wearing met the statute’s definition of body armor. The bill was enrolled and sent to the governor May 24 after passing the Assembly by a vote of 73-0.