"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. Thomas P. Anderle	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Santa Barbara County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.9 - 12 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 3 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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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. Thomas P. Anderle

Comments

Litigant

Comment #: CA54401
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Judge Anderle is 89 and needs to retire. He either lacks mental flexibility or his biases are no longer in check as he has ages.
He refuses to follow the law or to be impartial.
I am an older woman that was unfortunately assigned to Judge Anderle. Though my ex husband out earns me exponentially (his business grosses $2 million a year) and has created costly chaos and delays Anderle has refused to award attorney’s fees to me. (I have been out-resourced since I was locked out of community accounts prior to divorce.)
During the pandemic, when my earnings increased briefly, Anderle cut my support by 50% due to my “success.” Two years later when my income dropped by 2/3 after the market changed, Anderle refused to follow the same law and logic when the shoe was on the other foot. He refused to increase my support to the original amount and I am now unable to meet my financial obligations. (Forget about marital lifestyle! That didn’t figure into Anderle’s calculations.)

Anderle has ignored my ex-husband’s blatant lies and perjury about his income and assets though we provided proof from bank records and loan applications. Anderle denied my request to have my ex cooperate in obtaining a life insurance policy that I would pay for to protect my support as an older woman in a brand new career(post-divorce) with market fluctuations. Judge Anderle even denied my request to have my support payment paid electronically each month. Who sends a check in 2024? He also refused to enforce a contempt order from 2019.

This one 89-year-old man unilaterally changed my financial future for the balance of my life. How many other people will he be allowed to negatively impact? With his previous decisions consistently against me, should I be hopeful for a different outcome next hearing? (There will likely be another hearing because I divorced THAT man and Anderle has allowed the bullying and injustice to continue for years!)

I anticipate that there will be more women speaking up about the injustice in this man’s court. Another woman in her sixties had lost her job. She was asking for an increase of $2,000 in support. She was also denied by Anderle.
Hopefully, the lawyers who practice in front of him will report the changes and their concerns particularly if they experience his bias against their female clients.
He is too old to be on the bench. He is out of touch with the four generations beneath him. I’m told he used to be good. No longer! Ask the local lawyers!
My lawyer is well respected and has done an amazing job communicating with the court to no avail. As stated by other posters, when Anderle makes a decision about a party or the case, there is no flexibility in his decision-making. He needs to move off the bench.

Litigant

Comment #: CA54400
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Judge Anderle is 89 and needs to retire. He either lacks mental flexibility or his biases are no longer in check as he has ages.
He refuses to follow the law or to be impartial.
I am an older woman that was unfortunately assigned to Judge Anderle. Though my ex husband out earns me exponentially (his business grosses $2 million a year) and has created costly chaos and delays Anderle has refused to award attorney’s fees to me. (I have been out-resourced since I was locked out of community accounts prior to divorce.)
During the pandemic, when my earnings increased briefly, Anderle cut my support by 50% due to my “success.” Two years later when my income dropped by 2/3 after the market changed, Anderle refused to follow the same law and logic when the shoe was on the other foot. He refused to increase my support to the original amount and I am now unable to meet my financial obligations. (Forget about marital lifestyle! That didn’t figure into Anderle’s calculations.)

Anderle has ignored my ex-husband’s blatant lies and perjury about his income and assets though we provided proof from bank records and loan applications. Anderle denied my request to have my ex cooperate in obtaining a life insurance policy that I would pay for to protect my support as an older woman in a brand new career(post-divorce) with market fluctuations. Judge Anderle even denied my request to have my support payment paid electronically each month. Who sends a check in 2024? He also refused to enforce a contempt order from 2019.

This one 89-year-old man unilaterally changed my financial future for the balance of my life. How many other people will he be allowed to negatively impact? With his previous decisions consistently against me, should I be hopeful for a different outcome next hearing? (There will likely be another hearing because I divorced THAT man and Anderle has allowed the bullying and injustice to continue for years!)

I anticipate that there will be more women speaking up about the injustice in this man’s court. Another woman in her sixties had lost her job. She was asking for an increase of $2,000 in support. She was also denied by Anderle.
Hopefully, the lawyers who practice in front of him will report the changes and their concerns particularly if they experience his bias against their female clients.
He is too old to be on the bench. He is out of touch with the four generations beneath him. I’m told he used to be good. No longer! Ask the local lawyers!
My lawyer is well respected and has done an amazing job communicating with the court to no avail. As stated by other posters, when Anderle makes a decision about a party or the case, there is no flexibility in his decision-making. He needs to move off the bench.

Litigant

Comment #: CA49434
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I’d rate him unfit to be a judge or lawyer— 0.
He made me, the defendant and a women, pay 100% of my ex-husband’s legal fee because he could, not that the plaintiff couldn’t afford to pay his own fees. He ignored evidence and made his decision within the first meeting, not changing his mind even when fraud was clearly laid out as evidence and that my ex-husband forced his secretary, a notary, to forge my name to change title to property. He also had a pre-existing relationship with my ex-husband’s lawyer, Dennis Wasser, and enabled judicial decisions to go in his favor. He sent Wasser’s daughter a congratulatory note on getting an award. The trial of many weeks was a waste of time. He should have concluded it after ten minutes when he made his final judgement, but was so puffed up about having serious LA lawyers in his court, he sat and gloated for weeks, forcing me to pay the full cost of the trial. It was not ethically right to do what he did and perhaps illegal to ignore fraud.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA48375
Rating:4.0

Comments:
Makes decision early in the case before hearing all of the evidence, so plaintiff has the advantage. Also, will not change his tentative ruling, even if he misread the pleadings. Absolutely refuses to admit that he can make a mistake.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA46662
Rating:2.1

Comments:
Although he appears affable, he is actually a cold-hesrted tyrant. He makes up his mind on the paperwork and remains fixed on his tentative ruling, even if it was based on his mistaken reading of something in the pleadings. That's because he is absolutely unable to admit that he was wrong about something. Oral argument is a waste of time. He will never retire, and you will have to pry the gavel out of his cold, dead hands. At 86, it is well past time to step down.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA46661
Rating:4.0

Comments:
Absolutely will not depart from his tentative ruling, other than minor "tweeks." Complete inability to admit he can make a mistake. Oral argument is a waste of time.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA46652
Rating:10.0

Comments:
He's not mean. He is direct and efficient. I lost a demurrer the other day and don't agree. But OK, the case will come out fine in the end You think he's too old? No way. He's sharp and uses technology better than most 25 year olds.

Other

Comment #: CA46315
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge should have retired long ago. He is NOT impartial and is biased from the get-go giving the other party no chance of fairly and objectively having their case reviewed. You'd better pray he's not your judge!

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA42596
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge really needs to retire or resign. He is so unfair and mean-spirited, and so biased, he harms so many. His courtroom is ugly with harm.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA41666
Rating:5.3

Comments:
Judge Anderle is long overdue to retire. He would be doing us all a favor by gracefully bowing out. He does provide a tentative, which is nice, but he often gets the facts wrong and seems outright biased. At the end of the day, he ends up costing the litigants more money with his poor rulings and inability to command the litigation. He is definitely a 170.6.

Civil Litigation - Govt.

Comment #: CA38770
Rating:2.1

Comments:
Judge Anderle used to be an excellent jurist, but has become so addled as to be inaccurate, inconsistent and incapable of any real analysis. He rules like a dictator, without regard for the law or the facts. His rulings stray so far from the rule of law it is difficult to believe his court attorneys have actually passed the bar exam. Even when he rules in my client's favor, I know the ruling is subject to appeal, and now after more than two years we are headed to trial in a case which will surely be appealed by whichever side loses. It is truly a travesty.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA38518
Rating:4.5

Comments:
I had a complex case before him. We consistently were getting hometowned by defense counsel. His rulings demonstrably conflicted with the CCP and the CRC. He sends out lengthy CMOs and CMCs just walk through those. Finally, I pointed out all the different ways his order didn't comply with the CCP in very obvious ways. He ended up getting flustered and stating, on the record, the CCP does not apply to him. He may have been a good judge at one point, but he clearly has diminished capacity and should retire. His courtroom is where justice goes to die.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA35720
Rating:3.5

Comments:
Judge Anderle makes up his mind on first impressions and no facts change that through out the course of the trial. He even ignored fraud and coercive illegal behavior. He is a horribly unfair and unfit judge.

Litigant

Comment #: CA27101
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I agree with everything the person posting on 12/9/2019 had to say. This Judge has his research attorneys write up the tentative ruling and will never change it. If you have a case in front of this judge, all you have to do is read the tentative ruling the day before on the SBC Superior Court website and you'll know exactly how your case is going to go. You pay for an attorney to show up to argue your case for nothing. All the attorneys laugh about it after court, it's a joke.

Litigant

Comment #: CA26155
Rating:3.0

Comments:
This judge makes up his mind prior to hearing ones case and reviewing any hard evidence. He is also not current with real estate law but uses his position and power to impose his own personal feelings on the subject instead of reviewing facts. He is not fair nor impartial and we really felt an injustice occurred in his court. SB courts need to bring in some fresh blood. This judge is long over due to retire.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA10012
Rating:5.1

Comments:
Probably an interesting person but totally biased. Sees his mission as strengthening the government and law enforcement. Gives zero credibility to anyone who doesn't work for the government, and actually is harsh and inhumane. His legal analysis is neolithic.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA6964
Rating:8.3

Comments:
Easily THE MOST thorough Judge in all of Santa Barbara County. He is a RARE jem, old school Judge who actually has the courage to look everyone who comes before him in his courtroom in the eyes and actually rules from the bench. He doesn't take the "easy" way out by taking things under submission and send his ruling out at a later date so as to not upset anyone. He is strong in his rulings and stands firmly behind each and every one of them, but sometimes to his detriment.

Judge Anderle appreciates well-written, well-briefed pleadings and he READS EVERY WORD of what you file. That said, you better make sure that if you want him to hear or consider something it needs to be in your pleadings because he has his mind made up prior to the hearing, and bases his decision simply on the pleadings. He'll let you argue your case at the hearing and he will hear you out with dignity and respect, but when he has issued a "tentative" there is NOTHING you can say to get him to change his mind.

Litigant

Comment #: CA5390
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
I wish I'd known of this resource before having a case before this judge. My experience duplicates the unfavorable comments already posted. Because of this judge, I was required to incur additional and unnecessary expense for no good reason other than his whim. He is either clueless as to the purpose served by certain processes or doesn't care and thus chooses to make things needlessly difficult. Avoid his court if you can!

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA4831
Rating:9.3

Comments:
This judge seems to be really flexible and entertaining at the same time. The one case I have had before him, he apologized numerous times that I was last on the calendar and thanked me for my patience. He even kind of went easier on me because of this, and said that he would be patient with us because we were patient with him. While that may be somewhat trivial, it was nice to be treated with dignity and respect by a judge.

The case that I have had in front of him has been pretty messed up, as one of the parties hasn't followed his orders and the other party has failed to come to court at all. Despite being peeved about the situation, the judge has handled it by treating the situation with the seriousness that it deserves without losing his temper or treating us like children (as some judges seem to prefer to do).

Also, while waiting to be heard, I saw a pro se litigant in his courtroom go off on the opposing counsel. He did a great job of defusing the situation and following the rules of court, while at the same time allowing the pro se litigant a fair opportunity to be heard on the matters relevant to the hearing.

Overall, he is probably one of the better judges that I have appeared in front of. Know your stuff before you appear in his courtroom, because he pays attention to detail and will ask you direct questions that you have to answer, but he won't throw a temper tantrum if the situation is not ideal.

Litigant

Comment #: CA4828
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
In an attempt to collect child support that is years overdue, I hired an attorney, and the letter of the law was followed, which required filing a notice of delinquency and having it personally served. The notice provided that should the respondent fail to respond, a writ of execution would issue. The respondent defaulted, but this judge would not issue the writ, saying that he wanted a hearing. This required more time and money, and completely nullified the purpose of the notice of delinquency. It seems that this judge favors deadbeat dads, and that the clogged courts and extreme legal expenses are non-issues for him.

Litigant

Comment #: CA26
Rating:1.0

Comments:
He appears to be even-tempered but his rulings show otherwise, as well as his actions if you dare to question him. He does not follow the law if he does not like you and does not read the pleadings so as to give some modicum of fairness. He is punitive and into power and control in the worst way. He cares nothing of the harm his angry temper can cause to others.