What a jerk. Defendant files a motion for summary judgment and plaintiff responds with (inter alia) a number of evidentiary objections. At the hearing, counsel for plaintiff requests -- as he both should and as required in order to preserve the matter -- for a ruling on his objections. To which Orange County Superior Court Judge Derek W. Hunt responds: "Oh, Mr. Pike. Sure. You win them all. Next." And then promptly grants summary judgment against him.
That's exactly what I like to see in our judicial officials: Facetious remarks alongside a refusal to perform their required duties in critical, case-dispositive motions. Justice Ikola's opinion calls this "ruling" -- if you can call it that -- "troublesome to say the least," since it obviously wasn't an actual decision, as the judge granted the summary judgment motion while ostensibly striking pretty much all of the evidence on which it relied.
I'd have been much harsher. Much.
Do your job, Judge Hunt. Is that really too much to ask? And, if you're up for it, how about doing your job without crass and unnecessary comments that merely demonstrate how cavalierly you take your judicial obligations.
P.S. - Was sad to see that Judge Hunt ran unopposed in the last election. Maybe that won't continue indefinitely.
