Judge Derek Hunt of Santa Ana, CA; incompetent boob

The State of California provided Shirley with a license in 1972 after she graduated from Cornell University School of Law.      

FYI: Former Gov. Pete Wilson was duped into appointing Derek as an Orange County Superior Court judge in 1997. Derek didn’t receive the appointment because he was the most qualified attorney in the greater Orange County area. He received it because he had proven to be a reliable lackey for the local political hacks.

In one matter, Derek was assigned to preside over a case involving a product liability action against Kia Motors America, Inc. filed by Clelia R. Almendarez and Jose R. Preza. At the same time a class action case was pending in federal court against Kia that involved over 140 plaintiffs including Almendarez and Preza.

In his infinite ignorance, Derek stayed the pending state action against Kia due to the federal class action matter, however, he refused to hear any argument against the issuance of said stay.

When the plaintiff’s attorney Preza Gregory A. Lehrmann of the Knight Law Group, LLP attempted to address Derek about his erroneous decision to stay the matter, Derek cut him off and then made the following statements.

• “You know what? I don’t care. This is going to be stayed. This is ridiculous.”
• “This is just an attenuating litigation when it needn’t happen.”
• “Tell me what happens with the class action, and then we will go to work on this case.”
• “But as long as your clients are covered by the class action, that’s that.”

Subsequently, the plaintiffs filed a successful appeal with Division Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. In its reversal and spanking of Derek’s incompetency, the court made the following comments.

• “Here, the court assumed petitioners were members of a class action in a lawsuit against the same defendant and based on the same facts raised in the petitioners’ complaint. But petitioners [Almendarez and Preza] had opted out of the federal action.”
• “Needless to say, respondent court’s preemptory disposition was improper.”
• “Had the court permitted petitioners’ counsel to speak during the hearing, as it should have, it would have learned petitioners previously had opted out of the class action litigation, and the hearing on the demurrer could have taken place.”

The appellate court continued by reminding Derek the Dimwit about his duty to comply with the applicable Code of Judicial Ethics by saying:

• “A judge shall be patient, dignified, and courteous to litigants, jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and others with whom the judge deals in an official capacity.”
• “A judge shall accord to every person who has a legal interest in a proceeding, or that person’s lawyer, the full right to be heard according to law.”

The court continued with its findings of Derek’s ethical and competency shortcomings by saying:

• “The quoted exchange between the court and counsel demonstrates the court fell short in meeting the standards articulated in these canons.”

Sadly, this is the kind of jurisprudence you get when someone of Derek’s incompetence in the law is appointed because of his political connections rather than on merit.

It goes without saying that Derek doesn’t much care when he’s overturned (rebuked in truth) by the appellate court since he is well aware that no California judge has ever been tossed off the bench for being an incompetent boob.

As we speak (ca. August 2021), Derek continues to dispense his so-called idea of jurisprudence as an Orange County Superior Court Judge in Santa Ana, California.