"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. James E. Horan	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Los Angeles County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 3.4 - 12 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 8 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. James E. Horan

Comments

Other

Comment #: CA54629
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Horrible Judge. He thinks he is the King. Talks very condescending to the poor unfortunate souls who get appointed to him. DOES NOT LISTEN OR LET YOU TALK. He already has his mind made up on whatever it is you're presenting. This is a real shame that NO ONE has done anything about him. This guy is deciding peoples lives!!!!
Just horrible!

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA54174
Rating:1.4

Comments:
This judge is exceptionally terrible. Paper him immediately. He indeed favors abusive men. He claims to want to be able to see evidence but then refuses to accept evidence as fact/truth. If you are an abusive man, you do not need to waste your money on an attorney because he will fight for you and twist every word around just as much as you the abuser. This judge is here to keep victims as they are and to help the abuser believe they are the victim needing to be defended.
He would not hear certain parts of expert witness reports until a second hearing and then would say that because it was not presented in the first time around it will not be accepted the second time. He was aware that the witness had incriminating information about the abuser and did not allow it to be presented.
When the abuser had witnesses they were allowed to speak about whatever they did not know about.
This judge does not allow attorney's to ask for basic family law practices to be followed. Does not allow the attorney for the victim to speak and then threatens sanctions for doing their job.

This judge decides his decisions before the first court appearance. He is only looking for information to help support his belief and then he is perplexed and stated that he found this case his most complicated. It is complicated when you are trying to create a lie. Truth is simple.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA53387
Rating:2.5

Comments:
This judge is a very interesting character. He fancies himself a "human lie detector" except that he is exponentially terrible at it. He will ask a question and interrupt you unless you say "yes" or "no" even on a question where a yes or no answer would leave out important detail necessary to the hearing. He will ask a question and if you don't answer it exactly as asked, he will deem you a liar. Later he will ask a question and if you answer it exactly as asked, he will say that you "knew what he was getting at" and call you a liar. Essentially once he has made his determination on whether or not he likes you, he will twist your answers to get the result he wants. Here are some examples of this:
In a family law hearing where he was discussing the parties attempts to work out the marriage, he asked a party if they thought they would ever see another person romantically again. The party attempted to answer something other than yes or no. He demanded a yes or no answer. The party answered "ever again? yes." The judge deemed that to mean that the party was not trying to work out the marriage at the time in question.
In a family law hearing he asked "Did you children express to you XYZ?" The party clarified "You are asking if the children told ME XYZ?" The judge said yes. The party answered no. The judge deemed this a non credible answer because the other party told them that the children had told him XYZ.
In a family law hearing the parties were discussing an issue with the children for seasonal sports. The judge asked a party if the children had expressed a preference in sports. The party said yes they expressed a preference for sport A. The other party said they expressed a preference for sport B. The second party pointed to a conversation from three seasons prior as proof the children preferred sport B. The judge deemed the first party not credible and would not allow the party to explain how the conversation was related to a different season of sports when sport A was not being offered.

This judge either does not have kids and has no idea how the world works, or he is very biased and only wants the information that allows him to make an unappealable order. It makes no sense to deny parties in family law cases to explain why decisions are being made beyond the very limited "yes" or "no" answers that he demands.

Then his next go to is threatening sanctions. Sanctions are meant to be an EXTREME situation, but he will throw it out there because you are not answering the way he likes, or because you ask too many questions.

Lastly, and perhaps mostly annoyingly is that he only wants to address one issue per court date. If you have contentious litigation that means SO MANY COURT DATES. And he will not listen to you as to what the issues even are so that you can effectively use the Court dates. He wanted to spend a whole court date to discuss ONE bank account and how to divide the money in it, and threatened to sanction a party when the party tried to explain there was no money in the bank account. He wanted to spend one whole court date on retirement accounts, despite being told that was a non issue amongst the parties. If your family law case has 12 points of contention, that means at least 12 court dates.

If you get this judge paper him immediately.

Litigant

Comment #: CA53350
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This is the MOST UNPROFESSIONAL judge Ive ever seen. He verbally berates the people appearing before him. Im reading that he was transferred from Compton due to problems, and he recently sanctioned an attorney who complained about his demeanor. He's awful. I cant believe he has a new term. People need to file judicial complaints about his unprofessional demeanor.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA51992
Rating:10.0

Comments:
Judge Horan is exemplary!! He is professional, kind, humble, caring, and smart. He works diligently to find a middle ground to ensure that both parties are satisfied. He goes above and beyond his judicial responsibilities and is humble in his desire for a fair outcome. He truly seeks to find what is fair and reasonable for both parents and their children. A real pleasure to appear in front of in court!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA48825
Rating:1.0

Comments:
The absolute worst. Should be disbarred!! Doesn’t listen, doesn’t care about the children! Disgrace!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA44626
Rating:7.7

Comments:
Family law: Hearings take forever. Atty's repeat issues that are well known over and over. Opportunity for objection are given over and over until atty's simply tire of speaking. Excellent judge but way too nice.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA42220
Rating:10.0

Comments:
Smart, courteous and to the point. I'd keep practicing if all judges were like this. His staff have picked up on his vibe and are both pleasant and helpful.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA41552
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Worst judge I have ever seen. Allowed a straight-up lie by OC to stand - and be the basis for his decision - where it was literally disproven by something that attorney had filed himself. Wouldn't hear anything to the contrary and had obviously already made up his mind.

170.6 or hope his incompetence works to your advantage. In my opinion he should be disbarred and investigated for potential misconduct, but firing him as judge would be a start.

Any competent judge would have read the pleadings and been aware that the attorney had filed something contradicting what he was now saying orally.

Hopefully someone does something about this unfit and biased moron.

Litigant

Comment #: CA38307
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
He is really biased against women and doesn’t know how to weigh evidence. Someone needs to show up in court to monitor him.

Other

Comment #: CA37664
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Judge has a pre concieved opinion of what he considers a fact.Do not try to give the fact in more than a few words .OTHERWISE he says you are elaborating.THIS IS NOT TOLLERATED.I WAS not given the chance to prove the harassment.The repondant failed to appear.The facts of his peeking in windows was with a letter from the person.The phone records were in print from carrier.The one call was played .respondant had been arrested once at property. Gun charges included shooting guns in occupied houses,along with assault PC CODE 245 A 1 On my property because it fell short of his time line 2 years he imposed on me as if that had no bearing.Not caring that the respondant had been seen peeking in windows trying to get in yard .And to be leaving messages about drugs on my voice mail played in court .He ruled it as odd behavior .Putting me on trial that it was not really harrasment.I had proof from local law enforcement to presue a civil harrsament restraining order.I had proof of the brutal beating and the many different attempts made to get me involved with his coerce me in a attempt i was sure would lead me to be just another one of his victims ,I had proof of the hate crime verbage.and his record
stood for itself many gun charges assault .Vandilism stolen goods .He decided my fear was not serious enough even with the fact i had LAPD report spelling out events.The few recent peeking in windows tring to get in the yard and the calls left on my phone about drugs .YOU CAN HEAR THE DESPERATE VOICE TRYING TO COERCE ME TO LET HIM HELP ME WHEN HE HAD BEEN REMOVED TWICE ONCE WITH A ARREST AND RO FROM WIFE LAST TIME ME WITH HEL FROM ATTYS AND SHERIFF
NOT ENOUGH WHEN RESPONDANT FAILED TO APPEAR HE GAVE ME NO OTHER ADVICE AS TO A EXPARTE OR CONTINUANCE NOTHING JUST WITHOUT PREJUDICE DENIED
I TRIED TO TELL HIM WE CANT EVEN GO TO THE PROPERTY WE ARE TOO SCARED TO RUN INTO HIM HE WOULD NOT LITSEN AT ALL When i told him of the help from sheriff He made a remark about anyone else is not clear on ?? I will get transcript i pray i am not another one of this persons list of victims AND THIS PERSON IS ON SUPERVISED PROBATION OR PAROLE SHOOTING GUNS IN OCCUPIED HOUSES AND I SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID OF PHONE CALLS OR GOING TO THE PROPERY WHEN SHERIF SAID CALL 911 IF SOMEONE SEES HIM

HAVE WE LOST THE RIGHT AS A CITIZEN TO BE PROTECTED????

WILL THE LAST AMERICAN PLEASE BRING THE FLAG ??IT WHAT I BELIEVE IN I TRAVELED THE WORLD AMERICA IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR ......THIS MAKES NO SENSE

Litigant

Comment #: CA36661
Rating:1.0

Comments:
[
redacted by Ed.] First, the judge's clerk informed my attorney the day before the trial that due to COVID, the case must be held virtually. Then, when the trial started, the judge told my attorney who was located an hour away, that I had to appear in court within 15 minutes or he would dismiss the case. I was able to make it, but my attorney needed to still be virtual which put me at a disadvantage. It was clear that this was a procedural trick to disadvantage me. As my attorney started presenting the case, the judge shut her down and started acting as the respondent's attorney cross-examining me without my attorney first presenting the case. He did not let my attorney present any evidence, yet kept claiming that we have not proved our case. He repeatedly cut off my testimony and would fish for statements that were incomplete in order to characterize them incorrectly to support his narrative instead of uncovering the truth. I have been repeatedly harassed by a very aggressive homophobic neighbor who was caught on camera physically threatening me and not obeying police commands once they arrived. He had also made hate speech comments. Yet this judge had disregarded any of these facts and used it as a chance to attack the victim. When I arrived in court, I witnessed the previous case where this judge was also attacking a battered woman whose husband threw her to the ground, held her down, and beat her in front of their 2yo child. Yet in both cases, he acted as respondent's counsel and attacked the victim before dismissing the cases, leaving victims open to further abuse and harassment. It is clear that this judge is a "strongman" with a massive ego (probably overcompensating for other inadequacies), who aligns himself with other "strongman" abusers who appear before his court. I would not be surprised if I were to hear that he also beat his wife. Who knows. What is clear is that this judge is completely and totally biased and there are zero paths to a fair trial in his courtroom. If you find that you have been assigned this judge on your case, file for a new judge or change of venue or whatever you can do to not get this horribly biased judge, unless that is you are a harasser, wife-beater, strongman, then you are set to get everything you want so you can continue beating your wife with a full stamp of approval by Judge James Haron. If I were to be forced to say "your honor" to this guy, I would be in effect perjuring myself, as this judge is the total opposite of honorable.

Other

Comment #: CA34086
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
My daughter had court today. This judge said he would of given my grandson to his father. Who is a known drug addict and dealer and his mother who stole her other grandchildren and went to prison for it. Also she had cases for besting her son when he was in a wheel chair. How is this person residing over children. He also dismissed her restraining order and she had pictures of the abuse.

Other

Comment #: CA32812
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I submitted the earlier remark and forgot to input rating numbers. It’s hard to believe that he is a real judge.

Other

Comment #: CA32809
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
1= Worst Very disappointing, he defended the case rather than allowing the attorney to do so. He teaches evidence to Law students but ignores evidence submitted in court. For whatever reason, he knew the other party was dishonest and made statements suggesting he was going to rule in that persons favor. He attacked the other party who’s evidence aligned with the truth. He even tried to perjury the other party. It was so bizarre, he ruled in the favor of the person who had no evidence, maybe because he defended the case. He didn’t allow the party with evidence to speak except for yes or no. He knew he was going to rule against the other party because the attorney of the party who was dishonest didn’t want to proceed so the judge represented the case. He lacks the 3 qualifications required for a Judge because he lacks Integrity and violates the rights of the other. They really need to send an undercover person to observe how he intentionally misapplied the law. Such a disservice.

Other

Comment #: CA32111
Rating:2.0

Comments:
Very biased! Knows that one side is lying but attacks the other side for telling the truth. Defends the case as if he is the attorney for the side he favors. He doesn’t allow you to present your case and is overall unethical and abuse of discretion.

Litigant

Comment #: CA31723
Rating:6.0

Comments:
If a hearing is for Readiness Conference then he should address this and not deviate as he did. And why did he allow attorney to raise her voice and get dramatic?

Other

Comment #: CA28619
Rating:1.0

Comments:
He isnt a good judge he allows people to lie in court and he doesnt think of whats in the best intrest of the children

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA27196
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Appears, at first, to be defense friendly but does it in a way that doesn't help the defendant but only makes the defense attorney's job harder. I feels like he just wants to be "the smartest person in the room". Ick.

Other

Comment #: CA24669
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Takes matters personal and makes a lot of mistakes. VERY BIASED.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA21807
Rating:2.6

Comments:
Talks to everyone as if they were children and will not allow anyone to finish an answer. After every question asked he stops you and says "stop" if you continue he berates you and threatens you with contempt. I too am educated and was treated like a 5 year old. He is biased and never gave me a chance to explain a situation which he made up his mind and would not allow an explanation. Also was not well versed in Spousal and Child support laws. Stated I cant believe this, doesn't seem right, well it was right and when I attempted to show him the section he shut me down again with the threat of contempt.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA19884
Rating:2.1

Comments:
No common sense. Favors fathers without taking children’s best interest into consideration.