Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Dep't of Forestry and Fire Protection v. Howell (Cal. Ct. App. - Dec. 6, 2017)

Today's opinion seems especially timely given the numerous wildfires raging throughout Southern California.  It's about the protracted (and high profile) litigation surrounding the Moonlight Fire in 2007.

There's so much in there that's fascinating that I shan't attempt to summarize it.  I'll just give you a snippet from the last paragraph of Justice Robie's dissent to whet your appetite:

"Finally, I also cannot agree that any remand be before the same trial judge, who I believe was manifestly biased and did not provide a fair and impartial forum for litigation of an enormously important case with vast ramifications beyond the facts of this proceeding. The conduct of the trial court in making the Cottle ruling, granting judgment on the pleadings and then issuing postjudgment terminating sanctions were not the actions of a fair and impartial judge."

Come on.  You gotta read the whole thing, right?!