Ethics Committee Finds No Judicial Misconduct

Friday, October 21, 2022 | 0

An advisory panel that reviews complaints lodged against California’s workers’ compensation judges found no misconduct in any of the 20 cases it resolved in 2021, according to a new report.

The Ethics Advisory Committee had a total caseload of 24 complaints last year, including 19 new complaints, four complaints from 2020 that were pending investigation and one complaint from 2020 that was filed after the committee’s last meeting of that year.

Committee members resolved all five of the 2020 complaints last year. While one of the complaints resulted in an investigation, all concluded with the committee finding no judicial misconduct.

The committee also resolved 15 of the 19 new complaints filed last year. Eleven did not require an investigation. Of the eight that resulted in an investigation, three complaints are pending ongoing investigation and one is pending additional information from the complainant.

The committee said unrepresented injured workers filed 15 complaints in 2021, and represented workers filed two more. A lien claimant filed one complaint and another complaint was anonymous.

The Ethics Advisory Committee said in its report that complaints set forth a variety of grievances, with a large proportion alleging misconduct or judicial bias “based on dissatisfaction with a judge’s decision.”

One of the 2021 complaints resulting in an investigation involved an unrepresented applicant who said a judge erred in approving a stipulation and award despite the settlement including allegedly ambiguous language and not being an equitable deal for the worker.

Among other things, the complaint alleged the judge exhibited bias and prejudice in favor of the complainant’s former attorney and failed to exercise control over attorneys during hearings. The former attorney at one point referred to the applicant as a “looney tune” and at another point called her an “angry woman.”

Another 2021 complaint by an unrepresented worker accused a judge of bias and prejudice for actions that included thanking defense witnesses for their state service and complementing a defense attorney’s children.

Two additional unrepresented workers filed complaints last year, with one accusing a judge of hanging up on him while he was speaking during a court call and another complaining that a judge should have been removed from a case because of a friendship with a defense attorney.

A copy of the 2021 Ethics Advisory Committee report is here.