Comment #: CA34898
Rating:10.0
Comments:
Hon. Stone is a valuable asset to the bench. Currently presiding over the East County Branch of San Diego Sup Ct. I recently appeared for the very first time and despite my own tardiness on the matter was impressed with his industriousness and in particular the methodical way he hears the calendar. First off, I have a 300+ open case load (that until three weeks ago was split between myself and a full time Associate) and because of that I sincerely appreciated the process for moving cases along... and wish other Judges took cliff notes.

First the cases are chambered via MS Teams, in a numerical order. How is it possible that after appearing before approximately 100 Judges, there is only one Judge in Southern California that recognizes both the simplicity and effectiveness of using the Hindu Arabic Numeral System to efficiently manage the pretrial calendar??? Numbers are not new people (developed by tribes in the 5th or 6th Century AD - Brittanica).

In chambers Hon. Stone addressed each sides concerns and attempted to fashion a mutually agreeable offer to settle, rather than say demand the Prosecution produce discovery or pressure Defense to give up an argument.

In what I can only describe as an "A-Ha moment" Judge Stone called the cases in the same order as they were heard in Chambers. Furthermore, we did not wait around an hour before the calendar proceedings. When you manage a large case load, involuntary as that may sometimes be, simply respecting the reality that our Courts' calendar is one shared by many litigants rather than one person's day is a very welcomed change.

and so for that...very important reason, I give credit where it is due.. D10 is a very tight ship.

Aside from that I would characterize Judge Stone's demeanor as calm, approachable, patient and dare I say actually of the 21st Century. You can tell he doesn't like to let on to just how well versed he is, again approachable.