Opinion ID: 1433580
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Solberg v. Superior Court

Text: (2) Judge Perasso rested his denial of the motion to disqualify him on two grounds. First, he reasoned that in hearing the People's petition for a writ he was acting in an appellate capacity, and hence was exempt from disqualification under section 170.6. The point lacks merit. While it can be said in common parlance that the writ proceeding brought by the People had the effect of reviewing the challenged order of Judge Marie-Victoire, the proceeding was nevertheless a matter within the original jurisdiction of the superior court. (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 10; Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1085, 1103.) It is therefore within the express terms of section 170.6, which declares that after disqualification no superior court judge shall try any civil or criminal action or special proceeding of any kind or character (subd. (1)). In view of this statutory language it is irrelevant that the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, as the Attorney General points out, have concurrent jurisdiction in such matters. The Attorney General also seeks to analogize Judge Perasso's trial of the writ proceeding to the assignment of a judge to the appellate department of the superior court. [4] But the analogy fails, as the appellate department has a limited jurisdiction over certain appeals from municipal and justice courts only. (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 11; Code Civ. Proc., § 77, subd. (g); see generally Whittaker v. Superior Court (1968) 68 Cal.2d 357, 362-365 [66 Cal. Rptr. 710, 438 P.2d 358].) (3) Judge Perasso's second and principal ground for denying the motion to disqualify him was that it was filed neither by the People as plaintiffs nor by the defendant judge or court, but by the real parties in interest; such parties, he ruled, have no standing to move under section 170.6. The ruling was erroneous. When mandamus or prohibition is sought against a court, the judge is ordinarily a neutral party with no interest in the outcome; the litigant designated as the real party in interest is the true adverse party. (See Matter of De Lucca (1905) 146 Cal. 110, 113 [79 P. 853].) He is therefore entitled to oppose the application for the writ (Code Civ. Proc., § 1107; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 56(a)(2)), and if warranted, to file a motion in the writ proceeding to disqualify the assigned judge pursuant to section 170.6. [5] No question is raised as to either the timeliness or the formal sufficiency of the affidavit of disqualification filed by the real parties in interest; and as hereinafter appears, we have concluded that the statute is constitutional. It follows that Judge Perasso had no jurisdiction but to grant the motion and recuse himself. (Code Civ. Proc., § 170.6, subd. (3); see McCartney v. Commission on Judicial Qualifications (1974) 12 Cal.3d 512, 531-532 [116 Cal. Rptr. 260, 526 P.2d 268].) A writ of mandate will therefore lie to compel him to vacate his order denying the motion for disqualification. All orders made thereafter by Judge Perasso in these proceedings are likewise void, including the judgment directing issuance of a peremptory writ commanding Judge Marie-Victoire to disqualify herself in the criminal matters. Nevertheless, the issues presented by the appeal from that judgment will doubtless arise on remand, and we therefore proceed to address their merits.