2019 Transcript From California Private Judge Shows Litigant Forced into Hearing
Private judges are only done in a few states and that litigants pay, but in this transcript, a poor litigant says she is being forced to appear under duress
A notorious judge appears to have forced an indigent woman to proceed with a private judicial proceedings in California.
David Weinberg presided over a custody issue between Leonard Malo and Alisa Malo in December 2019.
Weinberg was featured in another local case, that of Donna McCracken. I will have a fuller update on her case soon, but for now, check out this story.
Private judges are a phenomenon in few states primarily in California; this website tells more.
In the last half of the 20th century, California’s courts became overwhelmed with cases. Judicial dockets were backlogged with hearings and proceedings, which substantially slowed down the court’s ability to dispense civil justice. Furthermore, budgetary cuts exacerbated the problem by reducing the resources of the courts.
In response to this phenomenon, a greater emphasis was placed on alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation and arbitration.
Additionally, the California Constitution was amended to recognize the use of a temporary judge who was a member of the State Bar of California and presided over cases for the court. Under Article VI § 21 of the California Constitution, as amended in 1966, “on stipulation of the parties litigant the court may order a cause to be tried by a temporary judge who is a member of the State Bar, sworn and empowered to act until final determination of the cause.”
The recognition of private judges helped deal with the courts’ backlog problem by essentially increasing its maximum manpower and by allowing the parties to resolve their issues expeditiously.
As I described in Bill Sardi’s case, an expeditious resolution is not always the outcome. His case is going on its eighth year and he spent several years in front of a private judge with no resolution. Find his story here.
Private judges were used in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s divorce, but it stands to reason that both parties must agree to being in front of a private judge.
According this transcript, that did not happen in this hearing. Find some of the transcript below.
”Alisa Gichon Malo here under duress,” Ms. Malo starts off.
But Judge Weinberg is not bothered, instead he responds, “Okay, And there are other people in the room. Are any of them your legal representative?”
He continues, “Okay, great. All right. The purpose of this hearing is essentially a reference from the Superior Court to answer a very discrete question…”
But Alisa Malo continues to press the issue, she responds later, “Great as I said on the record, I’m here under duress. There is no legal jurisdiction for this hearing to occur.”
Her comment leads to a back and forth between her and Judge Weinberg, find that below.
That continues.
”I’m not going to argue with you about whether we’re properly assembled here. That is, something that if you don’t agree with- and, obviously you don’t. I read your pleadings- then you have remedies, but the remedy is not something I can provide here at this level,” Judge Weinberg stated.
It’s noteworthy that the parties pay the private judge directly so if he did assert that his was not the proper courtroom, as she argued, he would get paid much less. '
Below is some more from this hearing.
Find the previous articles in the series on Orange County here. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.
Find the OC fundraiser here.