"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. Susanne M. Fenstermacher	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Contra Costa County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 3.5 - 3 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 3.0 - 7 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

Add your own rating

E-Mail Address ()

* *

Confirm E-mail Address

* * *

Zip

Occupation

Add a comment only

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

Please type what you see below:

Not an even number!

What others have said about Hon. Susanne M. Fenstermacher

Comments

Litigant

Comment #: CA54988
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
A very lazy judge who seemingly prefers continuances rather than directly addressing the issues. Thank goodness she has retired!

Other

Comment #: CA52056
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Oh boy, where do I start? A judge should be fair, hear both sides, and consider if someone is lying. I suppose that's due diligence, which she has no concept of. It's been almost a year since Fenstermacher approved to have my husband removed as the trustee of his parent's estate, by his evil brother(who has been suing my husband, his own brother for 10 years) My brother-in-law was able to come to Contra Costa county, on a Friday, with absolute lies. She did not contact our own CC attorney! She granted it, that day. Without questioning anything!! The fact that the mother has dementia, being manipulated by the brother(who's also an attorney, a sleazy one) And we have been in litigation for 10 years since the dad died. My husband has tirelessly been an excellent trustee, always has his mother's best interest. Now we can't see her, she's isolated, all because no one cares. Fenstermacher doesn't care about our 93- year old mother's well-being. Or ours! We've had to pay out of pocket attorney fees all year. We can't do it much longer, ultimately because of her! Our 2 young children will never see their grandmother again. Thank god she's retiring soon, but what a year of hell.

Other

Comment #: CA47212
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge ran unopposed in 2006 for her father's dept. Sound a lot like nepotism and gives credence to the Oligarchy theory. The only traits that proceed her laziness is her incompetence and her inability to listen.

I was given the CA Bar Telelphone number for a referral to a lawyer in the area. I called that number and was connected to a personal friend of Fenstermacher's, Ms. Mendes Weed. The amount of money I paid this lawyer only to reschedule a court date and she failed. She acted like her personal relationship would get me a new court date. This lawyer came up with every excuse not to get my hearing date rescheduled. Mendes Weed is also a self-acclaimed power attorney. Good God. What has she done besides being a female attorney. What has she worked on... LOL! Low lives.

Seems like today just about everyone is a dirt bag.

Northern CA. The shady part of CA. New Windy City.

Other

Comment #: CA42196
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I'm too upset to even write anything in detail right now. This judge gave away my son. [Redacted by Ed.]

Gave away my son with out any DD. Believed my exwife that I was off the grid so I was not made aware of the adoption. Truth I had court in 2 other Depatments during this time: down the hall and went every six months and family court. Sent 35k child support during this time too. Google me I am everywhere on Soc Media. [redacted]

My son was my life. This Judge helped the secret adoption take place.

Litigant

Comment #: CA41195
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Fraud. No evidence, No record of the hearing Absolute Criminal/Aided and abetted FRAUD ON THE COURT, arbitrary rulings. My father was deprived of Life, Liberty, and Property, held prisoner in a locked facility, with no dementia, 4 family members warned his son would abuse him, but she didn't care. Richard Dale Smith and Janell Armstrong-Smith set him up. Extrinsic

Other

Comment #: CA39283
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Ruled in favor of an adoption without the need to alert the real father who was in the hospital sick at the time. Legal kidnapping... The adopting party told the Judge the real Dad was nowhere to be found and the Judge believed them and granted the adoption. In addition to being in the hospital, the biological father had an ongoing case down the hall and filed a motion in the same dept to regain custody. How does this even happen? 2 cases, one in the same dept, where is the Due Diligence? Has anyone heard of a company called Google? Apparently not, white pages are preferred. Stripping a man of his parental rights in this case was stripping him of everything. This man was not a deadbeat Dad. Also the biological father paid $30k in past child support while the adoption was taking place. Again how does this happen?

When bio father's ex-wife got caught lying to Judge Hiramoto court 10 years ago, the judge threatened to throw her in jail. Honorable Hiramoto saw right through the deception of this awful women and would have not allowed a man to be stripped of his parental rights without being notified or at the very least some DD. I pray that one day I see my boy again. I love my son with all of my heart and after I got out of the hospital, I was counting the days down until I could see him again. When I went to the court date to regain visitation, I learned that my son had been adopted 5 1/2 months ago. This was almost 2 years ago and I still have not seen or spoke to my son in 4 years. His mother and stepdad are awful people. You will never know how strong you really are until your only option is to be strong

Litigant

Comment #: CA29227
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Behavior irresponsible. Denied my rights and conspied with petitioner and their Lawyer with absoutely no evidence. No record of hearing.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA15072
Rating:2.4

Comments:
Terrible. Unfair. Unreasonable. At most, she sounds soft spoken as to temperament, but that's as good as it gets. She has difficulty and makes poor rulings on simple discovery issues, so it is doubtful she can handle more complex matters. She was 50 minutes late to the bench, so she is not very considerate of time and money incurred by the parties or in my case representing a non-party witness.
She refused to consider reasonable offers for reasonable accommodations. She refused to consider alternatives from reasonable accommodations like stipulations to requiring counsel to double their meet-and-confer efforts or referring matter to a discovery referee before inconveniencing an ill elder person third party witness who may die from the stress. She refused to consider less onerous discovery options against a non-party, as required by appellate decisions. She gives home court advantage to local attorneys. She unfairly shifts costs incurred. It bears repeating, she is unfair, unreasonable and abusive.

Other

Comment #: CA9622
Rating:9.0

Comments:
She held no bias, got it right, called it exactly as it was and got it over with. With over 30 year experience she is an asset to this court.

Other

Comment #: CA8186
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Thank God Judge Fenstermacher has been moved from family law. Hopefully she will not destroy any more lives as she has one of my friends. My friend was involved in a highly contentious divorce with millions in assets as stake. My friend was isolated from all finances by her estranged husband and has been destitute for three years. It is customary in a family law case for a judge to even the playing field by having the side with finances pay for the other side's legal representation. In this case any attempt at such fairness was rejected by the judge. Furthermore, my friend has a life threatening heart condition, documented by multiple letters from physicians. Left to represent herself in a highly contested, high asset trial my friend had a severe flare up of her heart condition the night before trial. Landed in the ER and the ER doctor and regular physician wrote letters to the judge informing her that my friend could not attend the trial as it would be life threatening for her to subject herself to the stress just a few hours after getting out of the emergency room. The judge refused to show any mercy and proceeded with the trial in her absence. Ultimately, my friend has lost everything she helped her family earn in a 20 year marriage (millions of dollars) and has been burdened with a sizeable judgment against her. She was never given an opportunity to present her case and denied any means of mounting a defense of her assets and her reputation. Judge Fenstermacher is the kind of judge who makes people despise and distrust the legal system. This was a huge injustice that needs to be corrected. Can anyone help?

Other

Comment #: CA7840
Rating:2.0

Comments:
This judge I have seen very bias and does not look into children's best interest. Is known to favor ppl in her circle to rule in their favor there is a case right now going on that has been very poorly ruled. I was in shock and feared for the children's well being. It will be heard again this Monday nov 1 2015. The father's gf knows court personal and the judge and shows how she favors the father in this family case. Never have I seen someone allowed to yell or talk back to the judge with such rudeness and get his demands made. Evidence had clearly been shown. By the fathers negligence drinking issues verbal abuse missed visits he has not completed his parental classes per court order the cps investigation was completely ignored after brought up I saw a poor single mother struggling and pleading her case for custody and to get her children away from this man until further time and changes made on his end his demands of when and where and who to do visit drop offs were met with no question even after the mother stated she did not drive and for he location to be change and the conflict is intrest in who did the drop offs she has stated numerous domestic violence incidents that had occurred under his care that were never questioned or even asked to interview the children's even after it was stated they are being forced to go and it is traumatizing the children. I truly hope this is reviewed and looked into before the hearing Monday for those poor kids sake. God forbid she makes a ruling due to bias conflict of interest with the Father and something horrible happens under his care to the children. It would be an awlful pr hit for the county court system. I myself and 4 other reporters will be present Monday to see the ruling on this family case and write about it to be printed in our 4 publications I encourage more staff and ppl to come and see about this judge

Litigant

Comment #: CA7716
Rating:10.0

Comments:
fantastic judge

Other

Comment #: CA7032
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
She is a bad judge who abuses her powers

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: CA6428
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge is outrageous. She was removed from the family law division of Contra Costa because she was so incredibly biased. Multiple complaints were filed with the Commission for Judicial Performance. She intentionally miscalculated one litigants support order to the tune of $40,000 per year greater than it should have been. This cannot have been on accident. This has been used as a tactic to cruch one of the litigants on behalf of a favored party. She also toook away custody from a parent in a closed session hearing with no evidence to back it at all. Scrutunize her every move, she can stab you in the back when you are not looking!

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA3191
Rating:7.2

Comments:
Absolutely wonderful human being. She cannot, however, separate her personal feelings about equity from the outcome, which makes her very result oriented.