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RICHARD I. FINE
c/o Men’s Central Jail
2 Prisoner ID # 1824367
3 c/o Men’s Central Jail
441 Bauchet Street
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Los Angeles, CA 90012
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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In the Disciplinary Matter of Case No. MC-09-00129 ABC
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RICHARD ISAAC FINE
11 RULE 60 MOTION TO SET ASIDE
ORDER OF DISBARMENT
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California State Bar No.: 55259
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At the outset, the Court did not file Fine’s Response to the OSC after it
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16 was given to the Clerk on June 25, 2009, and a courtesy copy was served on
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Judge Collins. This failure to conform with Court rules places the entire
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disbarment procedure in question.
20 Further, as shown by the U.S. Supreme Court docket for case no. 08-1573,
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in Fine v. State Bar of California, the State Bar of California has waived its
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23 opposition to the Petition for Writ of Certiorari. This shows that the State Bar
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has recognized that the disbarment was improper. It should be noted that the
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26 State Bar also did not oppose the Motion to Set Aside the Judgment in the case
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of Fine v. State Bar of California, et al, USDC case no. cv-08-2906 JFW (CW)
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in this Court which challenged B&P Code § 6106 and B&P Code § 6007(c)(4)
2 each as being unconstitutional and sought to enjoin the disbarment of Fine.
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Additionally, on August 12, 2009, the Ninth Circuit reversed Judge
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5 Walter in the case of Fine v. Sheriff of Los Angeles County, USDC case no. cv-
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09-1943 JFW (CW), appeal no. 09-56073, and issued a Certificate of
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8 Appealability on the issue of whether the judge (Los Angeles County Superior
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Court Judge Yaffe) should have recused himself.
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As the Court is aware, Fine was “disbarred” for filing Federal civil rights
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15 lawsuits were “frivolous” and, as such, were acts of “moral turpitude”. The
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payments, however, were held to violate Article VI, Section 19, of the California
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Constitution in the case of Sturgeon v. County of Los Angeles, 167 Cal.App.4th
19 630 (2008) rev. denied 12/23/08. The payments were criminal acts under Senate
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Bill “SBX2 11” enacted February 20, 2009, which gave retroactive immunity
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22 from criminal prosecution, civil liability and disciplinary action to the judges
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and other employees of governmental entities “because of benefits provided to a
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Procedure 305, which is a constitutional denial of due process in itself, mandate
2 that the disbarment order be reversed.
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I. Local Rule 83-3.1.9 is Fulfilled.
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5 A. The fact that the Review Department did not comply with the
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notice procedure in State Bar Rule of Procedure 305(b) by considering
reversing the Trial Department on Counts 2, 4 and 17 when such issues
7 were not raised by the parties was a denial of due process.
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The Review Department reversed the “not guilty” finding of the Hearing
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10 Department, without any appeal of the State Bar, with the State Bar refusing to
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appeal and without notice to the parties.
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B. There was an infirmity of proof on all other counts.
17 guilty” on all counts of dishonesty – Counts 2, 4 and 17. These counts were not
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appealed by the State Bar.
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The Review Department further dismissed Counts 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15,
21 18 (Count 18, in addition to Counts 2, 4 and 17, was also dismissed by the
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Hearing Department).
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Counts 19, 20 and 21-22 related to the Federal lawsuits challenging the
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Court judges. As such, no ground for disbarment exists under Sturgeon, supra,
2 or Senate Bill “SBX 2 11”. (LR 93-3.1.9(A)(c) and (d))
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C. Counts 1 and 5 related to Commissioner Mitchell’s actions in
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the case of DeFlores.
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Count 1 relates to the disqualifications of Commissioner Mitchell. As
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10 Court, 97 Cal.App.4th 651 (2002), a void decision as it was based upon a void
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order. The order is a void order. (Valley v. Northern Fire & Marine Co., 254
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U.S. 348 (1920); no court has lawful authority to validate a void order – U.S. v.
14 Throckmorton, 98 U.S. 61 (1878). Further, the State Bar Court could not
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consider the conduct as it was not in a criminal proceeding. Finally, since the
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17 conduct was truthful, it was protected under the First Amendment, especially as
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it was criticizing the judge. See Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64 (1964).
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Additionally, Commissioner Mitchell did not deny or strike the
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disqualifications as he had to do one or the other within 10 days. PBA, LLC v.
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KPOD, Ltd., 112 Cal.App.4th 965 (2003). He “struck” or in the alternative
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In Count 5, the record showed that Fine had appealed an “actual order”
2 and that further there was no “class counsel” for the settlement class from which
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Fine could be removed as no such counsel was set forth in the Settlement
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5 Agreement and none had been appointed. The previous “liability class” had
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been dissolved and replaced by a settlement class and each person in the
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12 standing and did not address the substantive issue of class counsel. The Court of
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Appeal was wrong when it concluded that it had decided the class counsel issue,
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15 as it never did.
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Finally, the State Bar does not have jurisdiction to decide if a pleading is
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“frivolous” or without merit. It can only decide issues under the B&P Code,
19 which do not include such. Further, moral turpitude does not include such.
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D. Counts 6 and 8-9 (consolidated as one count).
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the time of the disqualification, the matter before Judge Honn and the Writ of
26 Mandate was not settled and the issue of the class certification in the Court of
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Appeal was not settled. As it turned out, the case of Linder v. Thrifty Oil, 23
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Cal.App.4th 429 (2000), was decided in June 2000, which showed that
2 Commissioner Mitchell’s decision in the Shinkle case on class certification was
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wrong, thereby reversing such under stare decisis and putting the class part of
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5 the case back before Commissioner Mitchell. Thus the decision of the Review
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Department that Mitchell was not the temporary judge was wrong under this
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12 Honn did. Further, he made such change after the Petition for Writ of Mandate
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was filed in the Court of Appeal. The Writ of Mandate was correct when it was
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15 filed and Judge Honn violated the law when he made his post-filing change.
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After the Writ has been filed, the trial court loses its jurisdiction to make any
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decisions.
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II. The Court Does Not Need The Entire Record.
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The entire record is 18 volumes in the State Bar court. This includes 180
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trial exhibits and 7 volumes of trial transcript. Additionally, there are volumes
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Senate Bill “SBX 2 11” as to Counts 19, 20 and 21-22, producing the entire
2 record would be a waste of time and money.
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4 III. The State Bar has not opposed the Petition for Writ of
Certiorari, nor did it oppose the Motion to Set Aside the Judgment and
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Declare the Statutes Unconstitutional and Enjoin the State Bar From
6 Disbarring Fine.
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The Ninth Circuit will decide if a judge must recuse himself for taking the
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unconstitutional and criminal LA County money.
10 This has all come about because of Fine. The question is, who should be
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removed from the courtroom? Fine, who has challenged the conduct? Or the
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13 judges who have taken the criminal payments and remained on the cases?
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In the State Bar case, the criminal payments were rampant. Additionally,
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16 Hearing Department Judge Honn was on the Board of Governors of the Special
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Olympics of Southern California while he sat on the disbarment case. During
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such time, LA County gave the charity $30,000.
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23 received criminal payments from LA County when she was a LA Superior Court
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judge, and Justices Boren and Nott concealed such in the cases of Fine v.
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Superior Court, LACAOEHS and Amjadi v. County of Los Angeles, et al, and
27 Silva v. Garcetti. Judge Honn received criminal payments from Orange County
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while he was deciding the disqualifications of Mitchell. Justices Chin, Corrigan,
2 Kennard and Moreno received criminal payments from Alameda and LA
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Counties when they were Superior Court judges. Chief Justice George and
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5 Justice Baxter are on the Judicial Council of California that authored Senate Bill
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“SBX 2 11”. Depending upon the year that the LA County payments began,
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8 Chief Justice George may have received such or have been involved in the
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creation of such when he was the presiding judge of the LA Superior Court in
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1985.
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years 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, LA Superior Court judges did not decide any
19 case against LA County. In fiscal year 2007-2008, they may have decided two
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cases against LA County, or these may have been jury verdicts.
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IV. Disbarment Should Not Occur.
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24 The aforementioned shows that Fine has not received due process (LR 83-
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3.1.9(a); there was such an infirmity of proof establishing the misconduct as to
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27 give rise to a clear conviction that the Court should not accept as final the other
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jurisdiction’s conclusion(s) on the subject (LR 83-3.1.9(d); imposition of like
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discipline would result in a grave injustice (LR 83-3.1.9(c); and other substantial
2 reasons exist to justify not accepting the other jurisdiction’s conclusion(s) (LR
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83-3.1.9(a)).
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5 Fine was the first lawyer to expose the corruption in the LA Superior
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Court. The LA Superior Court retaliated with a sham disbarment proceeding.
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8 During such proceeding, the Sturgeon decision was rendered. Fine and others
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filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice seeking a Grand Jury
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investigation of the illegal payments and indictments under the “intangible right
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15 (enacted on February 20, 2009) giving retroactive immunity under state law
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from criminal prosecution, civil liability and disciplinary action.
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The State Bar has not opposed the Petition for Writ of Certiorari and did
19 not oppose the Motion to Set Aside the Judgment in case no. cv-08-2906 JFW
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(CW). But for the unexplainable action of Judge Walter in not granting an
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22 unopposed motion, the State Bar would be presently preliminarily enjoined from
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disbarring Fine.
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Appealibility. On August 12, 2009, the Ninth Circuit granted the Certificate of
2 Appealibility on the issue of whether the judge should have recused himself.
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(Appeal 09-56073)
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8 in favor of “corrupt judges” when there is not any opposition to either a Motion
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to Set Aside a Judgment or a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. Under
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Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., et al, 566 U.S. ___ (2009) decided June 8,
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12 2009, and cases cited therein, the actions of the LA Superior Court judges and
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the California Supreme Court justices, all of whom received “criminal
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held to be denials of due process.
25 not any fact left upon which to base any charge against Fine.
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The disbarment should not occur.
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PROOF OF SERVICE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
parties in this action by depositing a true copy thereof, which was enclosed in a
sealed envelope, with postage fully prepaid, in the United States Mail, addressed as
follows:
None:
I certify and declare, under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United
States of America and the State of California, that the foregoing is true and
correct.
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