RIP: Hon. Edward Kakita

[kasia]

Founding member of the Japanese American Bar Association of Los Angeles, Hon. Edward Kakita, passed away on March 23, 2005. I have included his bio below:

http://www.arc4adr.com/panelists/panelistpics/Kakitabw.JPG

One of the most popular and well-liked Fast Track jurists, Judge Edward Kakita spent the majority of his 20 year-tenure on the Los Angeles Superior Court handling civil disputes. He has a reputation as a focused, yet relaxed and patient judge with a sharp legal mind. He is a good listener and his mild manner has a calming influence on contentious litigants.
As a Fast Track judge, Judge Kakita presided over hundreds of civil trials and settlement conferences concerning issues from insurance bad faith to complex real estate disputes. His business/finance degree gives him an acumen for resolving complex contractual disputes. He also enjoys cases involving more people-oriented issues such as employment and personal injury.

Judge Kakita was appointed to the Superior Court in 1980 and became Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division in 1998. He practiced civil law, including corporate, transactional and real estate issues, for 15 years, most recently as Senior Resident Partner at Whitman, Breed, Abbott & Morgan.

He is active in the Asian-American community and for many years has been committed to minority involvement in the legal field. He speaks conversational Japanese.

SPECIALIZES IN:

Complex litigation, including business and commercial, insurance coverage, medical and legal malpractice, personal injury, employment, construction defect, real estate and products liability issues.

EDUCATION:

J.D., Hastings College of the Law,
University of California, 1965
B.S., Insurance (Department of Finance), University of Southern California
ORGANIZATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

Completed Mediation Training, National Judicial Council, March 2000.
Member: American Bar Assoc.
California Asian Judges Assoc.
Japanese-American Bar Assoc. (Charter President 1976-77)
Minority Bar Assoc.
Hastings Alumni Assoc. (President, 1989-90); Hastings Alumnus of the Year (1994).
AVAILABLE LOCATIONS:
Throughout California.

source: http://www.arc4adr.com/panelists/kakita.html

[Faithless]

Interesting, says here that he was a republican, but was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2005/kaki032405.htm

Kakita was appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 1980. He retired in May of 2000.
...
n an interview with a local legal daily newspaper in 1983, Kakita described himself as a lifelong Republican, and credited his involvement with minority bar groups for bringing him to Brown’s attention as a potential judicial candidate.

I love this action by Kakita:

http://www.metnews.com/opinion/sanctions5.html

Memorable is the $2,500 sanction meted out by then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward Kakita jointly against the law firm Spray, Gould & Bowers and its client for filing a summary judgment motion that was one-and-a-half-line spaced rather than double spaced—even though a state rule expressly permitted one-and-a-half-line spacing. Kakita relied on a local rule indicating that double spacing was "preferred." Div. Four reversed in an opinion by then-Justice (now Presiding Justice) Charles Vogel in Tiffany v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (1993) 14 Cal.App.4th 1763.

Here's one of Kakita's bigger cases involved The Church of Scientology vs. Wollersheim (I believe he sided with Wollersheim):

http://www.answers.com/topic/scientology-and-the-legal-system

In the case of Wollersheim vs. Church of Scientology (1980), a former member of Scientology brought suit against the organization for mental distress, and was awarded $30 million in damages. Scientology vowed not to pay the award, and the case was dragged through the courts for 22 years, including two separate appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States and two additional appeals to the California Supreme Court. In early 2002, the case was finally settled, with the Church of Scientology paying Larry Wollersheim $8,674,643 May 9, 2002: http://www.factnet.org/letters/FACTNewsMay2002Wollersheim.html

[Grasshopper]

I love this action by Kakita:

http://www.metnews.com/opinion/sanctions5.html

Memorable is the $2,500 sanction meted out by then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward Kakita jointly against the law firm Spray, Gould & Bowers and its client for filing a summary judgment motion that was one-and-a-half-line spaced rather than double spaced—even though a state rule expressly permitted one-and-a-half-line spacing. Kakita relied on a local rule indicating that double spacing was "preferred." Div. Four reversed in an opinion by then-Justice (now Presiding Justice) Charles Vogel in Tiffany v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (1993) 14 Cal.App.4th 1763.


LOL. You think he was just in a bad mood that day. :biggrin:

I'm glad he wasn't one of my teachers. :eek: