"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. Dalila C. Lyons	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Los Angeles County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.1 - 16 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 10.0 - 1 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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Only items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating.

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. Dalila C. Lyons

Comments

Civil Litigation - Govt.

Comment #: CA25511
Rating:1.7

Comments:
She is a prime example of incompetence on the bench and a blazing power hungry ego. Her inability to control her bias or lack of any judicial demeanor or proper temperament or respect for counsel and parties makes her a top candidate for170.6 or even 170.1 if you are so inclined. Her rulings are hardly based on the evidence and are frequently overturned via writ or appeal as they fail to account for black letter law. She is probably one of the worst judicial officers in LA County unless you have a simple lemon law case, that is about the maximum intellectual capacity she can handle from the bench.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA24264
Rating:10.0

Comments:
This is a really excellent judge because: No nonsense. She is not afraid to rule or make a decision. She controls her courtroom. She knows how to apply the law. She was fair but decisive based on the evidence.

Other

Comment #: CA23121
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Horrible. Angry,demonstrative -a walking case study in why judges powers of contempt and harassment should be limited.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA22343
Rating:1.6

Comments:
170.6. Zero concept of equity. Terrible.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA15137
Rating:8.8

Comments:
It's no secret that "unhappy customers" are more likely to leave reviews, but my recent experience before Judge Lyons is completely at odds with many of the reviews below. In a very complex matter, J. Lyons had read all of the (voluminous) pleadings, declarations and exhibits prior to the scheduled hearing, and provided counsel with an ample opportunity to argue the merits of their case. After carefully considering all of the evidence and argument, Judge Lyons reached a case dispositive decision, entirely resolving the matter before trial. Judge Lyons' efforts were well appreciated by counsel on both the prevailing and the losing side.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA12818
Rating:2.9

Comments:
Consistent with the comments below this judge does not bother reading any papers. She will find any technicality to avoid ruling on substantive issues. She is utterly incompetent on the bench and has quite a record of reversals on appeal at least as far as her criminal rulings were concerned. Experience in voire dire is even if it is the most biased juror, she will not excuse them for cause. If you are lucky enough to paper her 170.6 is your key.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA11528
Rating:1.9

Comments:
Fails to understand the most basic legal concepts that are easily found in most statute books and even on forms. Poor staff, rude, not helpful. Court avoids certain rulings and makes orders contrary to the law, only to need to be correct by attorneys, who's on the bench the attorney or the judge?

Litigant

Comment #: CA11525
Rating:10.0

Comments:
A happy customer tells 1 person. An unhappy one tells 9. I'm assuming everyone is so angry bc not enough people take the time to write a positive review.

I never even got to meet her bc we submitted to tentaive rulings, but she was so fair. (Watchout for her staff though! I'm not kidding. Read every minute order immediately and check to see how docket entries are titled!). I actually thought her problem-solving skills were kind of genius. To avoid ruling on the merits, she striked entire issues as procedural mistakes and then canceled the dispositive hearing since the action was striked. I really liked her. She seems very fair .. and this is coming from a losing plaintiff that has a GOOD case.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA11403
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Insulted my client and myself. She told my client that she would end up in prison, to be sure. Inappropriate and not at all something she was prompted by something else that she should resort to that. My client has been out of the system for 4 years, but I will never forget it. It really brought my client down to that level this Judge told her she was inevitably going to be. She did end up right after her release going for 3 years because I believe of the things Lyons said to her resonated and she still hasn't really let her comment go, but has been out for 4 years today.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA10865
Rating:1.0

Comments:
It doesn't get any worse than Lyons. Egotistical, territorial, close-minded, biased, tyrannical, vindictive, and power hungry. These types of individuals should be politicians rather than judges. She has this pretense of a no nonsense Latina, know it all, and "wise" woman who really knows what's going on, but she is really nothing more than a rude, chip-on-the shoulder tyrant who doesn't deserve the power she's gotten. Rude, abrupt, nasty, inconsiderate, uninformed and capricious describes her. I would kick her without a heart-beat if you're unfortunate enough to get her. You can tell she's one of those ambitious politician types who is looking to be appointed as an appellate justice. God forbid she ever makes it to the Court of Appeal. She should be kept far away from any governmental power of any type. I've known a lot of judges both personally and professionally, and I've never seen anyone as dense, conceited and egotistical as her.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA10597
Rating:2.4

Comments:
Wow - avoid at all costs. There are many better options, and I can't think of any more capable of committing as much harm with so much inaction

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA10534
Rating:7.6

Comments:
Many judges are somewhat gutless in making dispositive rulings on demurrers or MSJs and would rather punt to a jury so any ultimate bad decisions can be blamed on them. Damn the expenses to the parties. This is no Judge Lyons. She is cogent and will sanction missing deadlines, filings, order. If that is good depends on whether it benefits you to have the case efficiently handled. She will also give you a well thought out objective and definite ruling to follow and kick a case on demurrer if the logic is there.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA9845
Rating:1.0

Comments:
What an absolute failure on the bench! What waste of tax dollars! This judge either doesn't read the papers, doesn't comprehend the papers, rubber stamps her clerk's preliminary rulings, or some combination thereof. She is an utter failure in understanding nuance and issues. Instead, she pounces on technicalities to assert her power and wastes precious resources and time making rulings on trivial, technical issues, only to have attorneys do more work needlessly. She is extremely territorial, defensive, rude, and power-hungry. She covers up her ineptitude with unwarranted and trivial technical rulings. She is definitely not qualified for anything more complex than a small-claims case. If you care about the merits of your case, ding her with a 170.6. If you want it to be a crap-shoot and are hoping for luck, keep her.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA9614
Rating:3.8

Comments:
This Judge is afraid to rule on much of anything and will simply try to deny all motions -- probably because she does not understand them. She is not particularly bright, but her defining characteristic is her almost bizarre refusal to make definitive rulings.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA8997
Rating:1.9

Comments:
FANTASTIC judge - if you're looking for a judge who doesn't bother reading the papers, predetermines her desired outcome, and then makes the ruling accordingly. She issued a tentative three days before our reply was even DUE and then took umbrage at the fact that not only did I ask her to reconsider her tentative, but when I stated i would not submit on the tentative, i was read the riot act, listening to her complain about how "busy" her workload was, and how she just doesn't have the time to entertain oral arguments on every case.

Lazy, careless, rude. A perfect 170.6 candidate if there ever was one.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA7091
Rating:4.2

Comments:
extremely deliberative and unsure of herself in civil copyright, employment matters