Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: networks for Judge favors

Although you don't say so explicitly, I infer from your question that Attorney C represents you in your suit against Attorney A and that Judge B is handling that case.

Judge B's decision on your suit against the former tenants strikes me as correct and I see no reason to believe it was influenced by anyone. If you had no rights in the property then you had no standing to sue anyone for damaging it.

Your remedy under these facts is to sue Attorney A for malpractice, and possibly to join your co-tennant as an additional defendant. It sounds like you have already done this.

Attorney A cannot sue you for malicious prosecution while your case against him is still pending. Part of what the plaintiff in a malicious prosecution case must prove is that he won the allegedly malicious lawsuit on the merits, and it is not possible to make such a claim before the suit is finished. Every attorney should know this, and if the lawyer has decided to sue you anyway then he is the one who is maliciously prosecuting a case -- against you.

California has a statute for dealing with lawsuits like the one your attorney is bringing. It allows for an early dismissal of the case and an award of attorney fees to the defendant. I would be interested in talking to you about handling that case, so feel free to contact me.

It is extremely rare for judges to give any special treatment to lawyers, let alone to give them a judgment they don't deserve. The probability of a "pre-arranged decision" strikes me as approximately zero.

Keep in mind that most judges used to be practicing lawyers and they often know many of the attorneys who appear before them in court. The fact that a judge and an attorney are on good terms does not mean the judge is biased. To justify your allegations you will need to show a genuine, close personal relationship between them.

If the friendship between Attorney A and the judge is close enough to create the appearance of bias (even if there is no actual bias), then you can ask the judge to recuse himself. If he does not agree, you can bring a motion to disqualify him; if you prepare the motion properly, a different judge will decide it and Judge B will have no say in the decision.

Also, if Judge B was assigned to the new case within the past 30 days, you can use a peremptory challenge to get him off the case. You only get to do this once per case, but if you do it properly the judge will have to step aside.