Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley on Friday will hear attorneys debate whether furlough cases filed in other courts should be transferred and coordinated in Sacramento.
Frawley's decision on the debate in California Association of Psychiatric Technicians v. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could immediately impact several cases scheduled for hearing on Nov. 16 in Alameda County Superior Court. And, if the governor's attorneys have their way, would make Sacramento the only Superior Court in the state that would handle future challenges to Schwarzenegger's controversial furlough orders.
Click here to read more about the reasons the administration says it wants furlough lawsuits to land in Sacramento and link to its court filing. We expect the unstated reason is that Schwarzenegger's attorneys figure they have a better chance of winning in Sacramento. Their opponents with cases in those other courts probably figure they have a better chance of winning elsewhere. Hence the hearing tomorrow.
Click the link below to read more about the Friday hearing and how the judge might rule.
It wasn't clear that Friday's hearing would go off as scheduled, since Union of American Physicians and Dentists had filed a challenge to Frawley hearing the case. That challenge was denied. Click here to see that decision, which was rendered last Friday. Had the union won its challenge, the case would have gone to another judge, likely delaying its hearing.
(Long-time State Worker blog users will recall that Frawley was the judge who concluded that Controller John Chiang had overstepped his authority by refusing to issue state worker paychecks at the rate of $6.55 per hour. Schwarzenegger issued an order in the summer of 2008 that state workers' pay be temporarily cut to the federal minimum after lawmakers failed to pass a budget.)
The doctors and dentists union's unsuccessful challenge came after a similar -- and successful -- challenge to Judge Patrick Marlette , who was first assigned to the case. You can read that challenge, filed by California Correctional Peace Officers Association, by clicking here. And thisthis link will download the ruling in CCPOA's favor.
Marlette was the judge who found that Schwarzenegger's fiscal emergency declaration was appropriate and allowed the governor to furlough state workers.
So now Frawley will hear arguments over whether to coordinate the cases. His options, according to an e-mail from Patrick Whalen, an attorney for California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment, are as follows:
1) Grant the motion in its entirety, in which case all seven of the actions listed by DPA in their papers (including the Alameda cases) would be transferred to Sacramento. This would almost certainly result in the Nov. 16 hearings being taken off calendar, and would delay resolution of those cases.
2) Grant the motion in part, allowing some of the seven cases to be moved to Sacramento, but not all of them.3) Deny the motion, in which case the 11/16 hearing would go forward.
IMAGE: www.yolocourts.ca.gov
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