"whimsical tyranny" = report to State Bar

This unpub from 4/3 levels sanctions (i.e., reporting to the State Bar for misconduct) for incivility directed at the trial court:

we address Vafaei’s unsupported attacks in his appellate briefing on the integrity of the trial court.

It is one thing to assert on appeal that the trial court committed reversible error; that is within the bounds of appropriate and acceptable advocacy. It is quite another thing to level serious, unsupported attacks on the integrity of the court, as Vafaei did here. Vafaei did not simply argue the court erred by granting the disqualification motion. Instead, Vafaei accused the court of “participating with the defense counsel” to commit a “fraud” on the judicial institutions of this state, “turn[ing] a blind eye” to defendants’ bad faith conduct and to the governing law, “putting himself above the law,” and acting in “knowing and willful disregard, and outright defiance, of the governing law.” Vafaei asserts the court’s ruling amounts to “whimsical tyranny.”

We cannot overstate how clearly this exceeds the bounds of acceptable, zealous advocacy and contravenes Vafaei’s ethical obligations as a member of the bar. “Business and Professions Code section 6068, subdivision (b) provides that it is the duty of an attorney to ‘maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers.’ Disrespectful statements made in court papers are grounds for attorney discipline and/or contempt.”

Accusations of judicial wrongdoing “are serious, and we treat them as such.”

There is nothing in the record to support or justify Vafaei’s attacks on the honesty and integrity of the trial court. His accusations are all based on the trial judge’s ruling on the disqualification motion. “[A] judge’s ‘rulings against a party— even when erroneous—do not establish a charge of judicial bias, especially when they are subject to review.’”

Nor do they support an accusation the court has colluded with an opposing party to knowingly violate or disregard the law and commit a fraud on the judicial system.

Pursuant to our ethical obligations under canon 3D(2), we will report attorney Pasha Vafaei, counsel for plaintiffs, to the State Bar of California for his misconduct as described in this opinion.