Rider Would Trade Millions for Cop’s Salary?

Assuming you’d been wrongfully terminated, which would you want a shot at first: reinstatement or a huge pile of cash? That’s the proposition Alameda County Judge Winifred Smith has issued to two-time Oakland Riders defendant Matthew Hornung.

In a tentative ruling late last week, Smith granted a motion to compel arbitration for Hornung and co-defendants Clarence Mabanag and Jude Siapno, who years ago were accused of widespread police misconduct and fired. Smith gave Hornung’s attorney, Edward Fishman, and attorneys for the city of Oakland until mid-May to help her decide whether to stay the arbitration until the resolution of a civil rights suit Hornung filed Apr. 3 in federal court.

Alleging racketeering, illegal search and seizure and slander, among other charges, Hornung’s civil rights suit seeks damages that could clear $45 million.

But it appears that Hornung first wants a crack at once again earning a policeman’s paycheck.

They Don’t Call it a Brief for Nothing

Even though the First District Court of Appeal sided with San Francisco attorney Mark Clausen last week in a ruling against Oakland’s “beat feet ordinance,” the justices tweaked him a bit for wandering off topic in his sometimes wordy, sometimes off-topic written arguments.

Perhaps they were grumbling about Clausen’s odd reference, in a 55-page reply brief, to the islands of Micronesia, a citation that appeared to have more significance for a jet-setter than the judiciary.

While arguing that the Oakland ordinance violates due process by failing to offer a speedy “probable cause” hearing, Clausen noted that the Federated States of Micronesia requires such hearings. Then, with little indication of why Clausen chose to mention Micronesia (a former U.S. territory that gained independence in 1986) he quickly assumed the tone of a silver-tongued travel agent.

“Thus, in addition to beautiful beaches, ocean views, tranquility, an effervescent innocence and the absence of a police oversight monitor at taxpayer expense,” Clausen wrote, “the Federated States offer another attraction over the City of Oakland; adherence to principles embodied in the Fourth Amendment and Due Process Clauses of the state and federal constitutions.”

Demonstrating judicial restraint, the court did not reply specifically to Clausen’s sales pitch on behalf of the Micronesia visitors’ bureau. Rather the justices, in the footnotes of a 16-page unpublished ruling, simply said one of his briefs “range[d] considerably beyond those discrete points” they asked him to address.

Still, it’ll be interesting to see if any of the justices go island hopping in the Pacific when the court breaks for summer recess.

— Matthew Hirsch

La Raza Lawyers Will Sit Out Alameda Judge Race

Alameda County records show there were three — count ‘em, three — past officers of the East Bay La Raza Lawyers Association who took out papers to run for the judicial seat being vacated by retiring Judge Donald Squires. But because of apparent miscommunication among the three, none of their names will appear on the June 6 ballot.

Berkeley attorney Leandro Duran said he was disappointed to learn that Rocio Fierro — like him a former president of the group — hadn’t turned in final paperwork. Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Duran said he and former law partner Victor Ochoa took preliminary steps to become a judicial candidate, but each of them opted not to run because they were planning to support Fierro.

“We thought it was Rocio who was going to run, so he (Ochoa) yielded and I yielded,�? Duran said.

Fierro, a 17-year veteran of the Oakland city attorney’s office who helmed the East Bay La Raza Lawyers in 2002, could not be reached for comment.

All of this may come as a relief for county voters, who already have to choose from a crowd of six judicial candidates. Others who took out nomination papers but did not qualify for the judicial election are court commissioner Thomas Nixon, Michael O’Reilly and Andrew Wiener.

— Matthew Hirsch