Comment #: CA38695
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
This judge is neither hard working, smart, nor interested in the legal matters pending before him. At the first hearing in our case, he attempted to encourage the parties to settle on day 1 by saying: this case isn't going to make your careers, counsel. What about the plaintiff's right to get her day in court? Disgraceful.

Comment #: CA38386
Rating:2.9
Comments:
This judge is a disaster for a civil case. He wants to encourage settlement, but then makes incomprehensible civil law and motion rulings to get a case resolved, simply saying "this will be interesting." He needs to really return to practice, but I don't think he ever wanted to -- a civil servant, with no desire to get anything to resolution. Nice man, bad judge, and even worse -- is this who we are putting on the bench for civil cases?

Comment #: CA34506
Rating:3.0
Comments:
Judge Doyle does not like to make decisions, so one wonders why he is on the bench. He picks a side and goes with it. During a bench trial on a case he admitted was beyond his expertise, he sat on the bench correcting his tentative rulings for the next day's law and motion hearings while testimony was being given, admitting off the record he was "multi-tasking" and having to have questions read back to him so that he could rule on objections. His statement of decision reflected it, too, as he included "facts" that were not in evidence, as to which he had sustained objections, and as to which the only evidence at trial was directly contrary.

In short, he had already made his mind up how he was going to rule before the trial started, so he paid no attention. How did he make his mind up before trial? The case had been up on appeal before trial, and he admitted he was impressed by the dissenting opinion more than the majority decision, so it was clear he made sure the party favored by the dissent won.

He also likes to hear himself talk and pushes parties toward settlement, so if you have a 10 minute matter, plan on it taking the better part of an hour or more to be heard. At least he's flexible with time constraints and will continue hearings fairly easily. He's also very friendly.

He was formerly a settlement judge in Glendale. I spoke with another judge who is now in ADR who had worked with him before they were on the bench, and when I mentioned I didn't think he liked to decide things, the response I got was, "Yeah, I can see that." Be wary.

Comment #: CA32107
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Judge Doyle goes on and on and on. A simple OSC re dismissal can take close to 2 hours because he starts talking about random things unrelated to the case or the issues at hand. He doesn't listen when the attorneys are speaking, and has no idea about the cases before him. He is "nice" and constantly compliments the judge, "you're doing a great job, fantastic!" but superficially. Not a great judge.

Comment #: CA9977
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Judge Doyle is nothing but a puppet & Judge Nelson is the one pulling his strings. In my recent case with him, he withheld evidence even though I quoted Brady Due Process and allowed the "witness" to question me. All of my questions were overruled on no grounds. He is extremely pro-settlement, to the point of exhaustion. Nice guy, but a terrible judge.

Comment #: CA8631
Rating:3.8
Comments:
Doyle lacks an appreciation for the civil litigation process. He micromanages cases, from his criminal law background, instead of letting the attorneys handle their own cases.

Comment #: CA4764
Rating:2.0
Comments:
Judge Doyle quite obviously did not read any of the documents or testimony in my case. Therefore, he didn't have a clue what was he was dealing with. His strategy was to postpone and hope that the case would just go away. Had he read the documents on either side of the case or bothered to hear testimony from witnesses, he would have actually been able to make a decision. During his long, lecture-style pontification, he even said that he did not want to make a ruling because some other judge in some future case would say "Judge Doyle did what?" So...he didn't want to make a ruling because some future judge in some future unrelated case might think his ruling was wrong? You have got to be kidding me! Maybe if you'd read the documents, you would have had a better idea what was going on in the case before you!

Comment #: CA4397
Rating:7.1
Comments:
Judge Doyle is an extremely nice man. He is considerate, civil, and forgiving. But he seems to come from a perspective of "let's all get along." So, he's unwilling to enforce the rules and the law strictly. And he bends over backwards to give wayward counsel the "benefit of the doubt." He's a good judge for an unprepared plaintiff's lawyer; he's a bad judge for a well-prepared defense lawyer.