Legal Pad

Panel OKs Unequal Benefits for State's Judges

[Greg Mitchell] 

Remember that challenge to the generous helping of county-paid benefits given to judges in L.A.? Two years ago, a Fourth District panel said local perks violated a requirement that judicial compensation be “prescribed” by the state.

Soon after, the Legislature enacted a temporary fix that enshrined the existing, unequal benefits with promises that it would work out a comprehensive and equitable overhaul of judicial compensation.

The overhaul hasn't happened yet. But on Tuesday, the Fourth District said the interim fix passed muster, if only in the interim.

By freezing the status quo, the patchwork of perks is now “prescribed” by the state, wrote Justice Patricia Benke in Sturgeon v. County of Los Angeles. And by requiring the Judicial Council to report on county-paid benefits, the Legislature “expressed its intent that, as far as is practical, benefits should be provided to judges on an equitable basis.”

She noted, however, that her reasoning turns on the notion that the fix is temporary. If a comprehensive overhaul doesn't happen, she cautioned that the fix would “most likely give rise to further challenges by taxpayers or members of the bench themselves.”

Given the no-win nature of such a thing, not to mention the $26 billion deficit, it's hard to imagine a comprehensive overhaul ever happening. To raise all judges to L.A. levels -- as the judges want -- would cost perhaps $100 million, and would represent a windfall for judges in counties where there's no fair argument they're underpaid.

 

 

 

Supreme Court Recuses Itself on Building Sale

[Scott Graham]

All seven California Supreme Court justices recused themselves today from a dispute over the sale of state buildings, including the building that houses the Supreme Court.

The Sixth District Court of Appeal last week stayed the sale, which outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed as a way to raise $2.3 billion for the cash-strapped state. The governor, whose term ends Jan. 2, is asking the Supreme Court to take the unusual step of intervening while the case is pending before the court of appeal.

"All members of the Supreme Court recuse themselves in the matter of Schwarznegger v. California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, No. S189114," the court stated in a two-paragraph order signed by Justice Marvin Baxter. The order stated that the court will follow its usual procedure of appointing justices from the court of appeal to sit pro tem, based on alphabetical rotation and availability.

Schwarzenegger Puts George's Name on Court Complex

[Kate Moser]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order today renaming San Francisco’s Civic Center court complex, which is home to the state Supreme Court, as the “Ronald M. George State Office Complex.”

It doesn’t quite have the ring to it that the “Ronald M. George Justice Center” had -- the name that legislators tried to dub the office complex in August in George’s honor.

That idea died after the SEIU stepped in.

The two buildings in George’s eponymous office complex, the Hiram M. Johnson State Office Building and the Earl Warren Building, will retain their names, the governor noted in a news release announcing his order.

The governor commended George in his order for being “a superbly effective leader of California’s judicial branch.”

 

Rose Bird Makes Campaign Appearance

[Greg Mitchell]

Meg Whitman's campaign released a new ad Friday called "Judicial Failure." The news of Ron George's retirement is a convenient reminder, the narrator says, of the governor's important role in selecting judges -- and a good hook for linking Brown to Rose Bird. Brown named Bird, who at the time had no judicial branch experience, to the chief's job in 1977 only to see her voted out of office by irate voters nine years later.

Not surprisingly, the ad details how Bird overruled every death sentence to come before her. 

But the ad also asserts, with undated, unexplained attribution to the Los Angeles Times, that Brown was known for "cronyism and lack of quality" in his judicial appointments, and suggests many of his judicial appointments were given in exchange for campaign funds.

You can see the ad here.

Fifth District Reverses Itself on Court Facility Fees

[Mike McKee]

Conflicts between state appellate courts most often have to be settled by the California Supreme Court.

Not so today, when Fresno’s Fifth District Court of Appeal conceded that Sacramento’s Third District had the better view on fee assessments.

Criminal defendant Jason Phillips, who pleaded guilty to a drug-possession charge, had argued that a $30 assessment for maintaining court facilities, wasn’t authorized because his crime occurred before the effective date of the controlling statute.

“Though members of this panel have previously agreed with this position,” Fifth District Justice Betty Dawson wrote, “upon consideration of the opinion of the Third Appellate District in People v. Castillo, 182 Cal.App.4th 1410, we have concluded that it has the better view." Presiding Justice James Ardaiz and Justice Bert Levy concurred.

Castillo, handed down on March 18, held that the date of conviction, not the date of the crime, controls application of the statute. Phillips committed his crime in 2008 and was sentenced in 2009; Government Code Section 70373 became effective on Jan. 1, 2009.

“We conclude,” Dawson wrote, “that the assessment was properly imposed.”

The ruling, People v. Phillips, F058534, gives the state Supreme Court one less headache with which to cope.

 

Gov. Schwarzenegger Spends Big Money On Sending Carter Phillips to SCOTUS

[Cheryl Miller]

Grab your pocketbooks and your shades. This fall’s U.S. Supreme Court battle over a federal panel’s order to cap California’s prison population is going to be a pricey and legally star-studded affair.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has retained Sidley Austin powerhouse Carter Phillips to argue that a federal three-judge panel didn’t have the authority last year to tell the state to slim its inmate population by 40,000. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed (.pdf) today to review the panel’s finding that overcrowding in California’s prisons is the primary reason behind unconstitutional levels of inmate medical care. Schwarzenegger v. Plata, 09-1233

State taxpayers will foot Phillips’ bills of up to $400,000 for briefings and oral arguments plus “additional costs,” said Gordon Hinkle, spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

UPDATE: Carr Concedes

[Kate Moser]

Dolores Carr just conceded the Santa Clara County district attorney election. In a statement, she said: “I am proud of the honest and honorable campaign that we ran, and I am grateful for all of the support we received. I feel privileged to have served the community as the first female district attorney in Santa Clara County, and I am proud of what we accomplished.”

Rosen said he’d have a statement at 4:30.

Mayer Brown Associate Was On the Ballot Twice, Only Needed to Win Once

[Cheryl Miller]

Just two days after the general election, Mayer Brown associate Mike Gatto was sworn in as the newest member of the Assembly on Thursday.  

Actually, Gatto's election was a bit unusual. The Democrat's name appeared twice on Tuesday's ballot: once as a candidate in the 43rd Assembly District's special election runoff to replace Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, who was elected to the Los Angeles City Council earlier this year, and the second time as a primary candidate for the very same seat. (Yeah, it's complicated. Just trust us, Gatto is an assemblyman now). 

Tuesday was a fair day for lawyers running for state offices. Attorneys won primaries in races for governor, secretary of state, attorney general (obviously), treasurer, controller and insurance commissioner. Most of those are Democrats.

In legislative races, 19 attorneys secured their parties' nominations. About 10 of those have a strong chance of winning in the November general election. That will be welcome news for the Capitol bar, whose numbers have been slipping in recent years.

Photo: Kamala Votes

[Jason Doiy]

A hopeful Kamala Harris, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, casts her vote on Election Day. Officials are anticipating a low voter turnout with less than a third of registered voters expected at the polls

Rocky Delgadillo, An Understated Campaigner from L.A.

[Cheryl Miller]

If you’re looking for a not-so-long long shot in tomorrow’s AG race — think Drosselmeyer at the Belmont Stakes — keep an eye on Democrat Rocky Delgadillo.

While Chris Kelly and Kamala Harris have been smacking each other around on TV, Delgadillo has mounted a smaller, quieter campaign. His less-frequent ads tout his time fighting gangs and insurance companies when he was the Los Angeles city attorney.

Delgadillo’s strategy is no secret; he even spells it out on his Web site:

• 45% of the primary votes will be from the LA Media Market. 

• Only 25% of the primary vote is from the San Francisco Media Market. 

• Rocky’s 8 years of service as the LA City Attorney, provides a level of name recognition that far surpasses every candidate in the LA Media Market. 

• Over 30% of the vote will be Latino, and 7 out of 10 Latino votes will come from Southern California.

We checked in with Delgadillo consultant Kam Kuwata on Monday while the campaign was still searching for the right place to hold Election Night activities.

Legal Pad: How do you see things shaping up one day before the election?