"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. James F. Rigali	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Santa Barbara County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.1 - 1 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 6 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. James F. Rigali

Comments

Other

Comment #: CA53316
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge was biased against a man who was the conservator over his dad… in response to the man, having sold his own mom‘s car at her request and keeping the money, under $3000, was irate! He ordered the dad to have his own attorney to protect his estatein about 2010. Dad died in 2022, as this man did everything by the book. For a car that costed the estate $3000, this judge ended up costing the estate to $2 million in total over all these years when the man did everything by the book. [Redacted by Ed.]

Litigant

Comment #: CA34064
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This guy needs a break.

Other

Comment #: CA34063
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I agree with all the previous comments.

Today, Rigali did not accept a request for accounting because it could cause the defendant problems with the IRS, after waiting 2 years for an accounting because we should not put pressure on the defendant. (His drinking buddy.)

He is biased. First court moments, he said my father was a 'great man.' Truth is my alcoholic father impersonated Hitler and molested his children.

He says 'whatever' more times in a courtroom than a reprimanded teenager.

He sometimes is not there, hasn't read anything, then says 'wellI don't want to upset anyone,' so drags it on, saying 'it's because of the lawyers that probate gets settled.'

There is one particular attorney he follows. We noticed all his decisions in the past year were based on one particular lawyers recommendations.

Lawyers call him incompetent, but say they will deny ever saying it. Lawyers assistants describe him as a man who shoots from the hip.

We paid a retired judge ($10,000) to help instead, but today, Rigali said he might not sign the agreement because it could cause future problems and he could get appealed.

Rigali has 6 teenage children. One recently urinated on the American Flag.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA22359
Rating:4.1

Comments:
Thoughts on judicial temperament and scholarship - On his good days, Rigali would get an 8 or 9. On his bad days, a 2 or 3. He literally seems to have a split personality. Some days, he's involved and engaged. Other days, he seems like he can hardly be bothered to take the bench - face resting on palms looking dispassionately at attorneys and litigants. He seems to enjoy finding his own legal grounds for deciding cases, even if they're wrong. Even if you win, try defending a legally unsound trial court decision on appeal.

Other

Comment #: CA22351
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Directly from the transcripts, "you're an experienced litigator and a trial lawyer, and a wonderful member of the state bar" while completely prejudicing the other party, and refusing to obey subject matter and personal jurisdiction. This judge is a former Knight of Columbus, so naturally hates women, hates minorities, and shows a clear "good old boy" preference for older white male litigators.

He should be disrobed.

Litigant

Comment #: CA18846
Rating:1.0

Comments:
he says to me asking me to tell my dad is it worth it for your son to pay $50.00 now for the next ? $1000.00 let see 10% of $1000.00 that's comes out to $8.49 per month so if i pay $20.00 a month for the next 50 months that"s $1000.00 but because of the 10% add $424.50 for the 10% i still owe $424.50 thats for the next 58months that right under 5 yr and used family code 4251 (d) as why child support then when i wen't back to court he kick's me out says im in the wrong court room to top that off they said i was not in court.after being in court all day

Litigant

Comment #: CA11206
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Named non-relative conservator for elderly woman against the wishes of that woman and objector (myself, blood descendent) despite a massive amount of evidence showing undue influence, isolation, abuse of process, among other unethical behavior by party. Didn't even bother to address the trust which conservatee had revoked, and was generally disinterested in finding the "least restrictive" situation for the conservatee, despite being obligated to seek out such a situation pursuant to probate code.

Litigant

Comment #: CA8307
Rating:1.0

Comments:
biased, does not remove himself when needed, does not read briefs, no prep work and does piece meal trials.