"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. Richard J Burdge Jr.	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Los Angeles County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 3.7 - 6 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 6 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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General Rating Criteria

* Temperament		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Scholarship		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Industriousness		(1=Not at all industrious,10=Highly industrious)
* Ability to Handle Complex Litigation		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Punctuality		(1=Chronically Late,10=Always on Time)
* General Ability to Handle Pre-Trial Matters		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
* General Ability as a Trial Judge		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
Flexibility In Scheduling		(1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)

Criminal Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation		(1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
General Inclination Regarding Bail		(1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Plea Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved, 10=Very Involved)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Pretrial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Trial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Sentencing Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)

Civil Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation		(1=Not at all Evenhanded,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Involvement in Settlement Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved,10=Very Involved)
General Inclination		(1=Pro-defendant, 10=Pro-plaintiff)

Comments

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What others have said about Hon. Richard J Burdge Jr.

Comments

Other

Comment #: CA38524
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Yes, it's obvious this judge doesn't care about people. He's terrible. A total disappointment. He only helps criminals, felons and gang members who can trick him into believing they are victims. He's obviously a failure because instead of creating happiness he destroys lives. Does he look health, happy, vibrant, aware, sane or youthful? Pick a healthy saner judge that seems aware enough to match your desired outcome, not your legal enemy's emotional twin. Otherwise, if you cannot mediate out of it, it's best to fight for a judge that's better, healthier, saner, active, interested, younger, relevantly experienced, unbiased, concerned, fair saner and not biased toward losers like gang members and felons. Also, this one allows total disrespect in the court when he should've fining or discrediting rude outbursts by litigants. He fails to investigate spurious claims. He has failed to allow cross-examination when warranted to discredit a litigant. Maybe he has no energy and is feeling lazy. He cares not about ruining anyone's lives with his biased, unfounded rulings. Instead, he seems to find rude outbursts credible as evidence. What an egregious biased discriminate abuse of public power. How sad to retire with a failed uncelebrated career. What quality of person would grow up to become a destructive judge anyway?

Other

Comment #: CA38264
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Complaints About California Judges for Misconduct or Wrongdoing

Complaints about California judges should be made in writing to the Commission on Judicial Performance. You may use the Commission's complaint form or write a letter describing the judge's conduct. (A complaint form can be obtained by calling the phone number for the Commission shown below.) Written complaints should include the name of the judge, relevant dates, names of witnesses, and sources of information. Copies (do not send originals) of court documents may be attached to your letter to support the allegations against the judge. Written complaints should be sent to:

State Commission on Judicial Performance
455 Golden Gate Avenue, Suite 14400
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-1220
Website address: www.courts.ca.gov

Please note that the Commission does not have authority to direct a judge to take legal action, or to review a case for judicial error, mistake or other legal grounds. These functions are for the State's appellate courts.

Source: https://www.cdss.ca.gov/reporting/file-a-complaint/county-complaints

Other

Comment #: CA38133
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Unsatisfied court participants should try suing the judge who delivered disastrous results. I have never heard of any lawyer, court plaintiff or defendant turn back around and sue the judge for anything. Most probably don't dare file complaints to their supervisors or judicial council, much less post it online. Maybe, in this time of #MeToo #Bullies and #BLM it's time for unsatisfied lawyers and their clients or those in pro per pro se to communicate their legal circus unfair nightmares and wrongs suffered to the world! The future is now!

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA37385
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I agree with two another commenter and duplicate some of their observations: Comments:
Suspicious for possible dementia. I'm not kidding. There is something off about how this judge renders his subjective decisions. He is not being thorough or accurate in his assessments. He must be bored out of his mind doing this all these years. The majority of lawyers won't dare speak out against any judge like him despite today's social media climate. That is one reason it's best to stay away from it. Just hire a mediator and hash it out. Keep the courts out of it. They are insane. Court is for fruit loops. There is no justice, only subjective reaction. This judge appears to be suspiciously incompetent and easily emotionally swayed because he appears old, He may need to be subjected to a competence review because his unhealthy, biased, unhappy state of being indicates he probably gets creepily aroused by issuing outlandish judgements. He basically wants to ruin your day like Schadefreude. He actually sat on a case involving Scientology. Wonder if they were able to figure him out like they have others in the past. They could totally ruin him, squash his confidence with mere words. He needs to get shamed off the bench because he doesn't do a good job for the public. He is a disservice and a disgrace. Requesting a new judge is probably a good idea because this guy looks harmless, but he is not a harmless old man. He is mean, prejudiced and he will destroy your life by taking sides with criminals. If there are any backdoor deals, any judge suspected of things like that should be investigated thoroughly.
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Other

Comment #: CA36584
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Disagreed! This Judge is not civil and very reactive. He creates a rabbit hole by making biased and uninformed decisions. He has harmed and destroyed many lives and he is likely proud of it. He is prone to emotional influence. You need only cry crocodile tears as a local gangster and criminal disquised as a good person (aka, square) to convince him that your ex parte evidence presented is credible. He can go for the jugular to denigrate you because he has no real inner strength or substance. Senility could be the diagnosis for some time now.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA36578
Rating:7.6

Comments:
This judge was very civil and focused on the essence of the matter. Fortunately not inclined to go down a rabbit hole, or endlessly entertain unsupported arguments, or to be led into the ether of what a case might mean if you disregard what it says. His tentatives are detailed and posted the day before. FYI: He or his LR atty read cited cases, since our tentative factually distinguished one the other side had cited on a basis I had missed. Someone also read the substantial docs submitted for judicial notice.

Other

Comment #: CA36207
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
No matter how simple, there is something off about how this judge renders his subjective decisions. He is not being thorough or accurate in his assessments. He must be bored out of his mind doing this all these years. The majority of lawyers won't dare speak out against any judge like him despite today's social media climate. That is one reason it's best to stay away from it. Just hire a mediator and hash it out. Keep the courts out of it. They are insane. Court is for fruit loops. There is no justice, only subjective reaction. This judge appears to be suspiciously incompetent and easily emotionally swayed because he appears old, He may need to be subjected to a competence review because his unhealthy, biased, unhappy state of being indicates he probably gets creepily aroused by issuing outlandish judgements. He basically wants to ruin your day like Schadefreude. He actually sat on a case involving Scientology. Wonder if they were able to figure him out like they have others in the past. They could totally ruin him, squash his confidence with mere words. He needs to get shamed off the bench because he doesn't do a good job for the public. He is a disservice and a disgrace. Requesting a new judge is probably a good idea because this guy looks harmless, but he is not a harmless old man. He is mean, prejudiced and he will destroy your life by taking sides with criminals. If there are any backdoor deals, any judge suspected of things like that should be investigated thoroughly.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA36173
Rating:3.2

Comments:
I had a very simple case in front of this judge. I figured I had a slam dunk. I had sat in the judge's courtroom, and he seemed very competent and fair.

The case was a breach of contract case and the plaintiff was claiming an oral contract. But, the plaintiff admitted that the breach occurred 4.5 years prior to the filing of action. To get around this, the plaintiff had made some insane "discovery" rule argument that seriously made no sense. There was no case law to support the argument.

Somehow this Judge ruled against my client. She could not believe it. The Judge issued a tentative decision that made no sense, and simply repeated the crazy arguments made by the plaintiff. In oral argument the Judge just looked at me and refused to engage me. It was like I was talking to a wall. "I will adopt my tentative."

Guys like this are really scary. Watch our for Judge Brudge.

Other

Comment #: CA34696
Rating:1.0

Comments:
More than one victim, litigant, lawyer, fellow Judge and news reporter have found this judge's work to be questionable. There is power in communicating his terrible work to the State in this official way, but you must do so without sounding crazy or inappropriate. No emotional or bull-baiting. Be a PRO! Most lawyers are too chicken to do it for you so get an unbiased person to help write it or edit the complaint for you! Just the facts! Cite law or code violated too.

According to the Official website of the State of California Commission on Judicial Performance (this is the link to file a complaint https://cjp.ca.gov/file_a_complaint/ ):

[These are what they are looking for in the complaint as copied and pasted from their PDF online]

Types of Conduct:
--------------------------------------------------------
1 Abuse of Contempt/Sanctions
2 Administrative Malfeasance/Improper Comments, Treatment of Colleagues
and Staff
3 Alcohol or Drug Related Criminal Conduct
4 Bias/Appearance of Bias Toward a Particular Class
5 Bias/Appearance of Bias Not Directed Toward a Particular Class
6 Comment on Pending Case
7 Non-performance of Judicial Functions/Attendance/Sleeping
8 Demeanor/Decorum
9 Disqualification/Disclosure/Post-disqualification Conduct
10 Ex Parte Communications
11 Failure to Cooperate/Lack of Candor with Regulatory Authorities
12 Failure to Ensure Rights
13 Gifts/Loans/Favors/Ticket-Fixing
14 Improper Business, Financial or Fiduciary Activities
15 Improper Political Activities
16 Miscellaneous Off-Bench Conduct
17 Misuse of Court Resources
18 Non-substance Abuse Criminal Conduct
19 Off-Bench Abuse of Office/Misuse of Court Information
20 On-Bench Abuse of Authority in Performance of Judicial Duties
21 Pre-Bench Misconduct
22 Sexual Harassment/Inappropriate Workplace Gender Comments
23 Inability to Perform Judicial Duties/Incapacity
24 Substance Abuse
25 Decisional Delay/False Salary Affidavits

Other

Comment #: CA34694
Rating:1.0

Comments:
If you have a complaint about this judge, please write to his court supervisor. Just contact the court were he serves and ask for the court supervisor. Provide a professional summary letter pointing out what he did wrong. You can also provide a copy of the official complaint. Be clear and concise about the wrong he has done. No emotional or unprofessional language. Stick to the facts, the bias, the details in the most professional way. Hire someone to do this for you if need be.

You can also write to the California Bar.

The Director-Chief Counsel of the commission is designated as the Supreme Court's investigator for complaints involving the judges of the State Bar Court.

Here is the link:
https://cjp.ca.gov/file_a_complaint/

Other

Comment #: CA33182
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Suspicious for possible dementia. I'm not kidding. He'll insinuate that you are crazy if he feels confused in the case--and he thinks he's being cute while attacking your character that way. Silly old guy. He was looking for any evidence of conflict to issue a fraudulent civil TRO. The conflict was all in the head of the lunatic plaintiff, yet he didn't seem to understand the true dynamics of the weird situation presented before him. This includes the fact that it was improperly filed as a domestic violence situation. The two parties had no history and were unfamiliar, having never had any relationship or friendship. It doesn't get any crazier than that in California! He failed, in his supreme ignorance, to investigate due diligence-wise the plaintiff for credibility issues (or pre-existing mental health issues). In this case, the plaintiff was able to commit perjury in his court without detection even while plaintiff was fighting an unknown, unrevealed felony welfare fraud and welfare perjury charges that were active at the time. Somehow, this Judge just had no idea. He was incredibly out-of-it and not perceptive to the spurious outburst by the overly emotional outburst by the plaintiff (who should have been mentally evaluated) whom was clearly bullying clearly deathly ill patient obviously suffering side effects from undergoing aggressive life-extending treatment, despite a doctor's letter, ignored it and allowed defendant to be thrown under the bus. This Judge knew he was complicit with assisting an elderly home owner to be abused by the Plaintiff by not dissolving the ridiculous, insane court fraud fakery and failed to investigate the plaintiff's gang connections. Plaintiff's weird, creepy claims that children (all connected to hispanic gang connected families) were bullied by the defendant was beyond stupid and sounded hallucinatory. It revealed that gang-connected folks also work with the cops to get away with bad things or to create a fake frame. Plaintiff and family connections were known to the Gang Unit of the city. Still, this was somehow not perceived and unknown to this ignorant Judge. He didn't get the memo about the situation or didn't comprehend what was happening in front of him. Old age could have made him easy to sway with the fake whining at the end. It caused the Judge to look emotionally exhausted. Why would anyone aware of Hispanic gang politics bully a gangster's children, much less if the different fathers are mostly likely Hispanic gang-connected or related??? That was pure idiocy and classic Californian.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA31901
Rating:3.4

Comments:
Sat in his courtroom a number of times. Seems to be pro-defendant, dislikes self represented litigants, makes rulings that do not comport with the law, great clerk but not a great judge. I would suggest a definite 170.6

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA19384
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Bottom Line: This is a bad judge.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA12141
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
This inexperienced judge is ridiculous. He ruined the course of my child’s life by not doing what’s in the child’s best interest.

Beware. He has NO Family Law Experience to date!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA11161
Rating:6.3

Comments:
i had almost the opposite experience as others with this judge - he understood my point and stripped the father of legal custody, and even made a point to to the father how incompetent he is

Other

Comment #: CA11139
Rating:1.0

Comments:
He gave 50% Custody to the father of an 11 month old baby girl who had no more than 3% visitation since the baby was born based upon the father's wishes. The baby will now be in a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 other occupants. He never reviewed the file containing numerous evidence of the father's lack of interest in the baby's life after he walked out on the mother when the baby was 3 month's old. The father just wanted money for child support and didn't want any children to begin with. This was a crime and not in the baby's best interest. I can't believe his ruling. It is impossible that a Judge of this background was so negligent in reviewing the facts/file of this case and ruling in the father's behalf.

Other

Comment #: CA10527
Rating:1.0

Comments:
He is allowing a 6 month old Baby to travel in between states to spend time with mom and dad. 30 days with mom and 30 days with dad. A SIX MONTH OLD BABY!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA7896
Rating:1.0

Comments:
He allowed a civil TRO filed by a lying gangster welfare mother to remain in effect even though she was lying through her disgusting teeth. She even said, "This woman is evil" and he seemed very affected by her Hollywood style crying. His decision was horrible. It has to be appealed and removed because he has put the defendant in further jeopardy by allowing the order to remain in place risking the high likelihood of false accusations being filed as the police will have the license to interpret the way the order is issued. He is emotionally swayed. Even though there were witnesses to discredit the lying plaintiff, he didn't hear them out. He just went ahead and issued the ridiculous order which should have been dissolved.