Commission reprimands Alameda County judge
Panel cites two cases, both overturned by appeals courts
ALAMEDA COUNTY >> The state’s judicial commission has publicly reprimanded an Alameda County judge for his involvement in two cases, both of which were overturned by appeals courts.
The Commission on Judicial
Performance said that Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, who has been on the bench since 2001, improperly handled the two cases from 2015 and 2017, and called out his behavior toward a witness and an attorney. His reprimand comes in the form of a public admonishment, issued Thursday.
“Judge Roesch displayed a lack of the dispassionate neutrality and the courtesy to others that is expected of judges,” wrote the commission in the admonishment.
Roesch is said to have interrogated a witness in a “hostile manner” in a civil jury trial in 2015, “made sarcastic remarks, and mishandled the witness’s assertion of her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.” He also is said to have questioned parties and counsel in an “injudicious manner.”
Although the commission said that Roesch thought his intervention was justified, “it is the misguided manner in which he attempted to address his misassumptions, and the discourteous way he comported himself toward those appearing in court before him, that is the basis for this discipline.”
In the 2015 trial over a company’s insurance denial and breach of contract, although the jury awarded the company that was suing $55 million, the court of appeals reversed the decision because of Roesch’s misconduct. According to the commission, during the testimony of one witness, Roesch repeatedly intervened in the attorney’s questioning, at one point taking over the questioning entirely. During this, he asked the witness if she knew she was testifying falsely (perjuring herself).
“His questioning of (the witness) was inappropriately aggressive and conveyed to the jury that he questioned her credibility,” the commission wrote.
He then took the attorneys to his chambers, and later told the witness to return, with an attorney, and invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on the stand before the jury. The commission said this
was contrary to the law. He also didn’t allow the attorneys for the insurance company to cross- examine her, the commission said.
The commission also agreed with the appellate court’s finding that Roesch improperly acted as an advocate for the company, when he intervened and cross-examined the witness as he did.
Roesch admitted to the commission that he overstepped in his role as a trial judge, and his conduct related to the witness’s testimony was “misguided.”
In another case in 2017, Roesch presided over a hearing of selling inherited property to a trust. No one was opposing the transfer. However, Roesch “aggressively questioned” the plaintiff, and “engaged in argument” with his attorney about the payment of property taxes. He ended up dismissing the case, but the court of appeals reversed the decision.
The commission said the judge “displayed poor demeanor” in the case, and made “discourteous comments.” The commission once again said Roesch did not remain neutral and instead “repeatedly engaged the parties and counsel in a manner that conveyed his concern that the parties were ‘cheating somebody.’ “
The commission voted 9-1 in favor of the public admonishment; one commissioner wanted a private admonishment and another did not participate.
Roesch’s current term expires in 2021. Before becoming a judge, Roesch was a probate referee and civil litigator in private practice. He was also an attorney for the Legal Aid Society and was a president of La Raza Lawyers Association of California.