CommentsLA RECALL-I never imagined when I responded to a listing in 2016 from realtor Dawn Messineo at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services of CA for a “recently renovated” 3-bedroom condo in Westlake Village, that one year later, I would be entering into the Los Angeles Superior Court as a self-represented litigant.
I have been on my own since I was 16, but I can tell you that nothing in life can ever prepare you for this experience.
LA Superior Court is known to be one of the most corrupt judicial systems in the nation. This is mostly due to their absurd rulings; ignoring precedence and rules of court; their treatment of self-represented litigants and their salaries being subsidized by the County via employment benefits and compensation. Those payments were ordered stopped and deemed “unconstitutional” in Sturgeon v. County of Los Angeles (2008). But in 2009, the California Judicial Council, the California Judges Association, The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, and various judges worked together to undo this new rule.
Unfortunately, the Commission on Judicial Performance (CJP) does nothing to stop the abusive conduct of these judges. In fact, 90% of complaints are closed at intake while ignoring pervasive legal errors and inherent biases. These so-called investigators who review our complaints have complete power to reject a complaint with no oversight. And CJP takes no steps to identify patterns of complaints.
I have personally filed two complaints to the CJP, one against Judge Timothy Dillon, which the CJP refused to escalate, and one against Judge Paul Bacigalupo, which the CJP did not even respond to. Visit LARecalls.com for more information on this topic and our current recall effort.
Additionally, LA Superior Court is inefficient, moving judges around from courthouse to courthouse every year. This is ultimately why so many judges ruled on my case, each contradicting the previous judge. Utter madness.
As a self-represented litigant, the cards are stacked against you. The judges hate you and opposing counsel will mock and harass you through the entire process. Don’t even think the judges will stop their behavior: they do not care. You must endure it. But document everything and when your case is over, turn your information over to the State Bar – at least, that is what I have done. There is currently an open investigation into one of the attorneys in my case and I hope in the next few months each one of them will be investigated for lying to judges and for their vile and adolescent conduct in my case.
They say that roughly 75% of litigants in California are self-represented so one would think these judges would be accustomed to us and learn how to talk to us. Sadly, they just don’t have it in them. I will say, though, that one of our judges, Judge Rupert Byrdsong was the only fair judge, the only one who appeared to be human. He thought before he spoke. In fact, I have dedicated my book, which is set to be released in late 2019, to him.
While living through my case, I began to speak to and meet other self-represented litigants who went through similar horror stories – mostly in family court where their kids were taken away for years at a time. I count myself lucky to have only endured civil court as I can’t imagine what it must be like to fight for your kids for years and have these corrupt judges turn a blind eye. I even met a family therapist who told me she witnessed ex-parte communications between judges and lawyers. After the conduct of and rulings by the judges in my case – nothing surprises me anymore.
My case lasted roughly two years. I’ve spent the last five months fighting for my $300,000 settlement, as counsel has dragged out negotiations on the “terms” of the settlement with outrageous demands. They have refused to speak to me and continued to demand arbitration with our mediator who had withdrawn as the arbitrator months prior. The whole thing was nuts and a clear stall tactic. In the end, I prevailed on a Motion to Enforce. One has to wonder how insurance carriers permit it all.
While every self-represented litigant has a story, there is one common denominator and that is the conduct of the judges toward litigants as well as their absurd rulings. There is absolutely no accountability. To make things worse, the majority of judges do not appear on the ballot at re-election time because no one wants to oppose a judge. One District Attorney told me, “All a voter sees is LA Superior Court Judge on the ballot and they won’t vote against them.” Consequently, these unethical and corrupt judges will sit on the bench for decades. I am determined to change this. Unless the public becomes more informed about them, things will never change. You are entitled to know who sits on the bench in your county’s courtrooms and you need to know who you are voting for.
You might think that this does not affect you, but one day it might. Whether it be probate court, landlord/tenant court, civil, criminal or family court, you too could find yourself in front of one of these judges.
To join our recall efforts and/or to suggest someone to oppose them in their upcoming elections, please visit LARecalls.com.
- Editor’s note: This is the first in a series on Shelly Hart’s personal experience with bias, discrimination and corruption in LA’s Superior Courts. CityWatch publishes these stories and information on what you can do about it because … one day, this could be you.
(Shelly Hart prevailed in one of the largest settlements in CA and quite possibly the nation as a self-represented litigant. She is uniquely qualified to write on this topic and is one of the handful of individuals who is heading up LARecalls, the recall of several LA Superior Court judges. You can contact her at [email protected]) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
