Profile of Justice Paul Turner

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Court: California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Five

Appointed by: Governor Deukmejian, 1989

Born: October 12, 1947 in Shawnee, Oklahoma

Education: BA, Cal State Long Beach 1969; JD, UCLA 1972

Law Practice: Private practice in Encino and Los Angeles (1973-83)

Judicial Appointments: Los Angeles Municipal Court (1983-85); Los Angeles County Superior Court (1985-89); Second District Court of Appeal (1989-present)

Opinions Reported in Appellate Decisions Noted:

• Court of Appeal continues trend favoring summary judgment motions in two recent cases
• Court of Appeal recognizes right of public and press access to civil trials
• FEHA disability discrimination claim preempted by Workers' Compensation Act
• Judge not immune from suit for defamatory statements to reporter
• Armendariz minimum requirements do not apply to non-statutory claims
• State court holds employment arbitration agreement enforceable

Additional Sources of Information:

Comments from Visitors to the Appellate Counsellor Home Page:

Anonymous (10/14/97)

Arrogant, opinionated, and close-minded. Reaches conclusions about appeals without careful consideration. Good example of the Peter Principle in action.

Ronald Williams (11/16/97)

While it may be a blessing to overcrowded Court dockets, if the truth be told, proponents of the federal summary judgment rule ought to proceed with caution, less the right to trial on its merit might be trampled.

For instance, if one were to read and construe the State Court of Appeals decision under Williams vs. City of Los Angeles, 229 Cal.App.3d 1627 (May 10, 1991), one would readily conclude that\ the facts and law of the decision, falls way short of being applied against federal claims under T-VII and/or under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and 1985. Primarily because the 1991 decision acknowledges that an adverse employer action had taken place, and the adverse action was established as based upon impermissible factors. This, then, is a textbook example of a built-in established prima facie case for employment discrimination.

On the other hand, as the result of the abuse of the summary judgment procedure, Judges Tashima as the trial court, and Judges Beezer, Brunetti and Noonan of the 9th Circuit Appeals court, regulated away my right to prosecute Title VII and other federal claims, based strictly upon an interpretation [by the way false] of the above cited State of Appeals decision.

The federal summary judgment process, regulated and decided by the just named federal judges, factored out the true facts of adjudicated and settled State court claims establishing that a wrongful termination had taken place, and disposed of the federal claims, based upon the City of LA Defendant being allowed to misrepresent the State Appeals decision of 1991.

Due to the abbreviated format for federal summary judgments, it simplified the City attorney's and the federal judges tasks of suppression of the evidence of the employment termination, and made it easy for them to sub- stitute this with conjured evidence that I voluntarily surrendered my employment. But for the invocation of the summary judgment process to summarily dismiss all of my federal claims, the City of LA Defendant would have been hard pressed in convincing a jury of my peers, that I voluntarily surrendered my employment with the City, after being terminated from my employment by the City. The summary judgment process made it easy for such a result to take place. That procedure can be unconscionable,placed in the hands of unscrupulous judges and/or litigants.

Anonymous (11/27/97)

Calm and extraordinarily polite jurist who dispassionately decides cases. Probably works harder than any judge in California. Is a consensus pick to ultimately be on the California Supreme Court.

Anonymous (9/14/99)

extreme right wing; slick; will not overturn a trial court under any circumstances. Is cold, cruel and will not follow the law if beneficial to a defendant.

Anonymous (3/29/00)

I am in complete agreement with the other visitors to your web page re: J. Turner.   He is arrogant, but worse, reactionary and generally on the side of the government, employers, and multinational corporations.  The pity is that we plaintiff attorneys work very hard for our clients.  I think Turner and his two colleagues should be honest enough to tell litigants and their attorneys that they should not bother writing an appeal on behalf of employees, criminal defendants, or those fighting big corporations.   I have begun a review of Turner's rulings and while not complete, the cases I did review were in criminal cases, 0 for criminal defendant and 100% for government; 1 out of maybe 10 for the employee, if that, and generally for the corporation over the individual.   What a pity he is on the bench.

Anonymous (5/6/00)

A right wing politician who trolls the courthouse cafeteria looking for votes. He is arrogant and one sided in his approach.  He doesn't carefuly consider the effect of his opinions (i.e., opinion shifting burden of proof on summary judgment) which results in chaos until he retracts his ill-considered opinion, somewhat.

Anonymous (6/20/00)

I have to agree with the majority of opinions already stated on this website. I read an article in the Daily Journal a few years ago in which Justice Turner actually BOASTED (i.e., you could picture the thumbs in the suspenders) that Div. 5 had yet to overturn a criminal conviction (whether this referred to when he was PJ or not, I don't remember.) I think it is blatantly obvious that Justice Turner is concerned only with the reaction of the electorate and his personal future in the judicial system. He may be a bright man -- however, it doens't matter because he has sold his soul and in the process, infused his division with his personality and political views. Almost without fail, I can tell when an opinon has been written by Paul Turner. I agree that he is aiming for the Supreme Court and heaven help us if he gets there. We will be lost.

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