SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A California federal court has dismissed litigation brought by a personal injury lawyer against state court officials he says have improperly aligned with an insurance company he is suing.
On Sept. 26, Judge Morrison England ruled against James Ison and The Ison Law Firm, who are tangling with Mercury Insurance Company in state court. Ison sued the Superior Court of California, the County of San Francisco, Judge Ethan Schulman and others last year, hoping to reverse what is happening in his state court case.
After accusing Mercury of shenanigans during mediation, events led to Ison being fined $5,000 and assessed $80,000 for the other side's legal bills.
"(W)hile Plaintiffs claim that no important state interest is implicated because the disputes relate only to an individual case, it is well recognized that states have important interests in administering their judicial systems, not to mention California's unquestioned need to administer its system of justice free from federal influence," England wrote.
"Finally, there is no impediment to Plaintiffs raising any federal question arising from the San Francisco County action in the state court appeal that is already pending."
Ison had agreed to voluntary mediation in exchange for dismissing a case against Mercury, his suit says. Mercury paid its attorneys at Kern Segal and mediator Stuart Diamond "to conduct a sham mediation that had Diamond going back and forth between Ison and an empty room for four hours while telling Ison that the Mercury Insurance claims adjuster and Kern Segal attorney (Bryana McGuirk) were in the 'conference room down the hall' when in fact they were not there," the suit says.
Ison refused to dismiss the case and asked for proof the adjuster and McGuirk were in attendance. He filed suit against Mercury, Kern Segal and Diamond in San Francisco Superior Court.
Defendants pursued an anti-SLAPP defense, which protects defendants who engage in protected litigation activity. Judge Schulman, who had been apponted by the California Supreme Court to hear the case, ruled for the defendants, despite reaching opposite rulings in similar cases, Ison claimed.
When Ison moved for reconsideration, he claimed Schulman "impugned the integrity of the court" and claimed Mercury had him "in its pocket." He called Schulman "drunk with power."
More statements challenged Schulman's objectivity, and the judge ultimately found Ison in contempt, fined him $5,000 and forwarded his judgment to the California State Bar. He also awarded $80,000 in lawyer fees to Mercury.
Judge England found his federal court should abstain from interfering with the state court proceedings against defendants like Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye.