"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. H. Chester Horn, Jr.	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Los Angeles County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.8 - 12 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 2.0 - 3 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. H. Chester Horn, Jr.

Comments

Litigant

Comment #: CA47014
Rating:1.0

Comments:
He clearly has friends that are lawyers and favors them. He allowed, if not encouraged, lying under oath by the defendant AND his lawyer. Some of the lies were so outrageous that he looked shocked but never intervened. He was not aware of the case and was not even interested but clearly biased to the other lawyer.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA45568
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I don't know how he is in jury trial but in my experience he was ill-prepared, looked frazzled on the bench, had not read the file (which was not large,) and took direction from his clerk, which is a scary thought. He did not take the matter under submission, to the contrary gave his ruling without a statement of decision. If you have him for a court trial, I would definitely file an affidavit-170.6.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA42642
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Beware this judge if you represent tenants in UD cases. He is biased and a cheater. He made an argument on behalf of the landlord plaintiff that was not made by the plaintiff and mumbled a code section to support his argument. I insisted that we focus on it, not knowing what to expect, but he only read part of the code section and when I asked him about the section he did not read, he was not too happy. It is scary that a judge would abuse his role as a judge with a surprise argument and leave out obvious language that did not support his technical argument that defied logic. It was like dealing with a low level attorney who wanted to win at all cost. And all clothed in a not unkind demeanor.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA39252
Rating:10.0

Comments:
Judge Horn is kind man. Were the world like Cars, it would be a kinder, gentler place. That is the peace Judge Horn brings.

Litigant

Comment #: CA38803
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
He doesn't seem to know the law or is dangerously biased. My lawyer has had to file a writ against him because he doesn't understand the law and we will ask him to recuse himself.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA38122
Rating:8.8

Comments:
As a plaintiff attorney and trying a case before him, I found him to be very nice, even demeanor, punctual, and fair. He is exactly the type of judge I would like to have in all of my trials. He is very fair to both counsel. He is very amenable to a juror who may have special needs and will excuse a juror when they illicit reasonable cause that they cannot be impartial to one side or the other.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA27890
Rating:1.1

Comments:
Dishonest , favors his friends in legal department over justice. Shame and bad karma awaits him. He has relatives as lawyers and are connected in stealing an honest civilians who can not defend themselves bin court , bias and criminal are judge horn and his associates and some crooked friends. Some of his friends lawyers are very oppressive and money hungry. Where is justice?

Other

Comment #: CA18703
Rating:1.0

Comments:
He needs to be fired.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA17523
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Buffoon. Ignorant. Open bias. How do poor quality individuals make it to the bench? Are high quality candidates not interested?

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA15085
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I had a UD case with Judge Horn and he simply lean toward one side, this time was for the plaintiff. I was simply arrogant form his side to provide a requested "Statement of Decision" orally and with plenty of mistakes and did not even wait for an objection and renders his judgment that was simply biased. He even granted a judgment against unnamed defendant (under CCP 415.46) without proof of service against unnamed defendants and even further without even the Plaintiff's attorney asking for it.

Litigant

Comment #: CA9813
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
The other comments are correct that Horn is egregiously biased against pro per litigants. This is wholly unacceptable. Furthermore, he is ignorant of the law and seemingly disinterested in learning. Horn is another Gray Davis appointee, a lifer government employee apparently unable to cut it in the private sector after a brief interlude, and interested only in watching the clock. He says
stupendously offensive and foolish things, and his staff is most unpleasant. We deserve better quality and respect from our judicial officers and certainly are taxed plenty for it.

Litigant

Comment #: CA7782
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Like majority of the judges, he is not fair when it comes to pro per litigants.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA7376
Rating:7.8

Comments:
I had a limited civil court trial with Judge Horn and found him to be extremely evenhanded and fair. He was also very pleasant. What I liked best was that the ultimate outcome was predictable and correct even though it didn't come down exactly as I had hoped. I was a bit frustrated with his looseness with my objections with the defendant was a pro per so I think a lot of judges give leeway in that respect.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA6411
Rating:10.0

Comments:
amazing judge. thoughtful, respectful of all parties in his court, and incredibly intelligent.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA5266
Rating:8.0

Comments:
Pleasant and patient during 5 day jury trial. Work with counsle to delay start of trial due to sudden illness of a party. Patient and allowed attorneys to try their case [let attorneys argue too much beyond scope of evidence]. Made error re: introduction of evidence but did research on own and reversed himself so reached the corect ruling.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA3022
Rating:2.8

Comments:
Judge Horn is one of the crankiest judges to ever sit on the bench. He is never in a good mood and likes to admonish the lawyers in front of the jury for absolutely no reason. He also rules on various discovery and pre-trial motions, then does a complete 180 as if all is fine. Very unpredictable and never changes his tentative even when it is wrong. Definitely peremptory worthy.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA2732
Rating:4.6

Comments:
The "13th juror" is actually sitting 2d chair for the insurance company at the defense table.

Have to agree with comment #CA2250. Every possible ruling favored defense/insurance company. EVERY SINGLE ONE. From pretrial motions and motions in limine, keeping patently biased jurors, objections during trial, post-judgment motions, cost motion. EVERYTHING went defense's way.
His unfairness is a disgrace to the bench and concept of justice; perhaps he doesn't realize that his ineptitude and bias has long-term impact on lives. He should be embarrassed at his prejudices, which he should check at the door when he dons the black robe.
Could go on and on with specifics but don't want to be readily identifiable; boils down to fact that PI Plaintiff should absolutely exercise 170.6 against this joker, otherwise he will cost you significant $$$$$$$$.....

Litigant

Comment #: CA2250
Rating:4.0

Comments:
Very pro-defense in PI cases