CJP "deal" for J.Raye's retirement

The Recorder has 3rd District's Vance Raye Retired to Avoid Further Case-Delay Scrutiny, Judicial Watchdog Agency Says -- The longtime administrative presiding justice of the third District Court of Appeal agreed to never seek judicial office again under terms of an agreement reached with the Commission on Judicial Performance.

• Vance Raye, the former presiding justice of the Third District Court of Appeal, reached a deal with the Commission on Judicial Performance to retire and never seek judicial office again to settle a complaint he “engaged in a pattern of delay” in disposing of cases over a 10-year period.
• “Also, over that ten-year period, Justice Raye failed to properly exercise his administrative and supervisory authority … to provide a forum for the expeditious resolution of appellate disputes,” the commission wrote in a release announcing the agreement and Raye’s public admonishment by the judicial disciplinary panel.
• “Both with respect to the court as a whole (in his role as presiding justice) and as to cases assigned to him personally, Justice Raye failed to encourage and adopt reasonable procedures to ensure that priority and older cases were decided first,” the commission continued. “In some cases assigned to him, Justice Raye’s conduct caused prejudice to the parties to the actions. Justice Raye’s agreement to retire and not to serve in a judicial capacity adequately protects the public from further misconduct.”
• In a 39-page stipulation signed by Raye on Friday, the commission found that between 2001 and 2019, in approximately 14 to 35% of the cases assigned to Raye, more than a year passed between the date the cases were fully briefed and the date he issued the opinions. After the commission began investigating Raye in 2020, that percentage dropped to 7%.
Last Wednesday, before Raye’s retirement was announced publicly, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye signed an order naming Associate Justice Ron Robie the acting administrative presiding justice of the Third District.

Today's DJ has Another retirement gives Newsom chance to remake 3rd District -- Three newly open seats will allow Gov. Gavin Newsom to remake the small but important 11-justice court that often hears appeals related to state government and elections.

The CJP's Public Admonishment Pursuant to Stipulation is here.

• Justice Raye engaged in a pattern of delay in deciding around 200 appellate matters over a ten-year period.
• Justice Raye did not minimize the impact of delay by prioritizing the delayed matters and taking into account the effect of delay on the parties in particular cases.
• Justice Raye failed to properly exercise his administrative and supervisory authority to provide a forum for the expeditious resolution of appellate disputes.