Judge David P. Yaffe — Perched on a Throne in ‘Wonderland’

Judge David P. Yaffe — Perched on a Throne in ‘Wonderland’ By ROGER M. GRACE I’m not exactly objective when it comes to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe. I can’t stand him. I’ve appeared before him in three cases. (The Daily Journal Corporation sought to wrest a City of Los Angeles contract from the Metropolitan News Company, and lost; MNC pushed for rescission of two County of Los Angeles contracts awarded to DJC, and lost.) Too, I’ve viewed Yaffe’s handling of numerous other cases with which I’ve been unconnected. I commented in a column on Sept. 15 on one proceeding I viewed while waiting for a matter to be called; Yaffe imposed a $200 sanction on a plaintiff’s lawyer for not giving notice of a status conference to lawyers for the other parties. The problem was that there were no other attorneys of record in the case. And Yaffe imposed that sanction on Aug. 24 notwithstanding that one day after he issued an OSC re sanction on July 26, the Court of Appeal, in a published opinion, invalidated a sanction meted out under identical circumstances. From what… Read More

RIGHT TRUMPS MIGHT Los Angeles Times Continues Silence On Subject of Corruption

Los Angeles Times Continues Silence On Subject of Corruption Savannah Winslow shares her latest email to Los Angeles Times writer George Skelton: “[California Senate President] Darrell Steinberg. Fearless proponent? Or lapdog.” “Steinberg co-authored Senate Bill SBX2-11, the ‘smoking gun’ proof of judicial corruption in Los Angeles County. SBX2-11, you’ll recall, forgave the commission of (literally) ten million felonies committed by Superior Court Judges and County Supervisors under a scheme specifically forbidden by the Constitution. The scheme involved counties illegally giving judges (who are well-paid state employees) monies under the table, hidden from the public for at least twenty years. ‘Smoking gun proof’ in the sense that there was no need to retroactively immunize an act unless a crime had been committed.” “By the end of this month, at least eight judges will have been sued, as individuals not judicial officers (meaning no immunity), as a result of their having received County monies while ruling in cases in which the County has an interest, a clear denial of due process and an obstruction of justice. Thousands of such cases will be filed before this is over. (The geniuses who crafted SBX2-11,… Read More

77th Installment. The Richard Fine Story: An Objective Analysis

77th Installment. The Richard Fine Story: An Objective Analysis The wrongly decided Fine v. Superior Court (2002) 97 Cal.App.4th 651 (continued) Commissioner Bruce Mitchell’s findings of fact need not detain us. By refusing to release his death grip on Fine’s case and finding Richard Fine guilty of criminal contempt, Commissioner Mitchell deliberately acted without jurisdiction, proving his bias. Another way Commissioner Mitchell expressed his lawless subjectivity was soliciting defense counsel to respond to Fine’s appeal. (Ibid.) Mitchell’s hubris led to greater openness than wisdom would have prescribed, but the Court of Appeal’s bias in his favor outweighed the commissioner’s foolhardiness. Although the Court of Appeal admitted this was Fine’s most serious charge, the court responded with an unsupported legal conclusion: Commissioner Mitchell, when advised that Fine had appealed from the “order” purportedly made on December 1, 2000, properly suggested that a response to the appeal would be in order and that the party responding could be entitled to attorney fees. (Ibid.) How could the Court of Appeal miss the impropriety when a judicial officer exploits courtroom command to gain unfair advantage? How could it miss the commissioner’s deliberate misstatement of… Read More

US Supreme Court agrees to hear the case of attorney Richard Fine, a 70 Year Old lawyer languishing in “coercive confinement” after accusing the courts of throwing cases in favor of the county

US Supreme Court agrees to hear the case of attorney Richard Fine, a 70 Year Old lawyer languishing in “coercive confinement” after accusing the courts of throwing cases in favor of the county “The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to consider the case of a 70-year-old taxpayer advocate … While the main issue before the high court is whether a person can be held in coercive confinement for such a long time,” “For the last quarter of 2005, not one case that was decided by a judge of the LA Superior Court was decided against LA County. For the year 2006 to 2007 not one case decided by an LA County Judge was decided against LA County…. So we know that the cases that have come in have basically been thrown” Attorney Richard Fine, telling it like it is REDDIT Attorney Richard Fine, telling it like it is. Richard Fine is still talking about these lieing ass judges and others. MAKING THE DEFINITION OF “FINANCIAL INTEREST” THE SAME FOR ALL ELECTED OFFICIALS, GOVERNMENT AND AGENCY EMPLOYEES AND JUDICIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS AND REQUIRING JUDICIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS TO MAKE LEGALLY… Read More

Richard I. Fine, Prisoner of Conscience

By Alex Alexiev April 27, 2010 8:40 PM On April 23, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States denied the petition for “stay of execution” (of coercive confinement for civil contempt of court) by attorney Richard I. Fine in the case of Richard Fine v. Leroy Baca, Sheriff of Los Angeles County (09-1250). In doing so, the highest court of the land has refused to rectify a clear-cut case of judicial corruption in the state of California. So whose Richard Fine and how did he run afoul of the law? A distinguished attorney with a doctor of law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and a Ph.D. in international law from the London School of Economics, Mr. Fine has practiced law in government service and private practice for 42 years and achieved considerable distinction in both. He has served in the antitrust division of the Justice Department, founded the Anti-Trust Division in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, and was awarded the prestigious “Lawyer of the Decades” award in 2006. He has also won numerous cases on behalf of California taxpayers in state courts, including a 2003… Read More