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On Wednesday, October 31^st 2012 at 8:30 am, the case of workers’ compensation defense attorney Richard Widom vs. Stockwell, Harris, Widom, Woolverton, & Muehl will finally be heard once again in Los Angeles Superior Court at 111 No. Hill Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  However, this time the proceedings will take place in the court room of the Honorable Judge Gregory Alarcon, in Department 36, and not in the court room of the Honorable Judge Susan Bryant-Deason. 

The proceedings Wednesday will be for a Case Management Conference.  This case, which was filed by attorney Richard Widom against Stockwell for wrongfully firing him on April 26^th 2009, has been set for trial several times but has still not gotten there.  Not yet.  

The trial was stayed pending four writs of mandate filed by the Stockwell firm with the Court of Appeal of the state of California, Second Appellate District.  The Appeals Court then published a decision on April 26^th 2012, and the case was remanded back to the trial court of Judge Susan Bryant-Deason in Department 52 with Stockwell winning reversals on discovery motions and a motion in limine.   Richard Widom then filed an appeal in response to these reversals with the California Supreme Court.  His request for a review was consequently denied. 

Richard Widom

Then, the Stockwell Firm filed a Peremptory Challenge to the Trial Court on August 28^th 2012 requesting the case be moved to a different judge claiming they cannot have a fair and impartial trial before Susan Bryant-Deason.   In the peremptory challenge, Stockwell wrote “It is proper for Judge Bryant-Deason to be disqualified because of either or both of the following: (1) a person aware of the facts that Judge Bryant-Deason is being assigned these matters again after her decisions were reversed on appeal might reasonably entertain a doubt that Judge Bryant-Deason would be able to be impartial; and/or (2) Judge Bryant-Deason may hold a bias or prejudice toward a lawyer for Defendants in the proceedings, since those lawyers were the ones who were successful on the writs before the California Court of Appeal, which reversed the decisions issued by Judge Bryant-Deason.”

This incredible legal battle contains within it a devastating personal story about Richard Widom and his now former wife, Lisa Kerner.  Lisa Kerner was also a lawyer with the Stockwell firm who joined much later than Widom--probably during the 1990s.   She became a vice-president.

On March 1^st 2009, a physical altercation ensued between Lisa Kerner and Richard Widom in their home.  Kerner alleged that Widom beat her.  She filed criminal charges, a civil tort action, a temporary restraining order, a permanent restraining order, plus she filed for divorce.    

But the physical violence alleged by Lisa Kerner against Richard Widom did not end with the March 1^st 2009 incident.   Kerner claimed that just over two years later, on March 29^th 2011, Widom broke into her home, stated he was there to “finish the job” and beat her unconscious.  Lisa told of how she was found by someone two days later and was finally taken to the hospital. 

It has been over 3 years since Richard Widom sued “the Stockwell firm” on June 15^th 2009 alleging Stockwell simply fired him in order to deprive him of the substantial salary, benefits, and bonuses he would have earned through his retirement, plus the four million dollars in deferred compensation to which he alleges he is entitled. 

Still to this day, Lisa Kerner is disabled and not working.  She is still officially considered employed, although on disability, with the Stockwell firm. 

Widom filed an appeal to the Stockwell Peremptory Challenge requesting a change of judge from Susan Bryant-Deason.  His appeal was denied.   He asserted that the Order granting Stockwell’s Peremptory Challenge was an abuse of discretion.  He accuses the Stockwell firm of “gamesmanship”. 

In Widom’s appeal it read, “Stockwell’s request that this matter be reassigned to a new trial judge is yet another one of its time-worn tricks to try to switch judges anytime it does not receive a favorable ruling or its abuses are reigned in. The sole purpose of the most recent ploy is to achieve delay by reassigning a voluminous case file to a new judge, more than three years into the case. The capabilities of the newly-assigned Judge notwithstanding, Stockwell’s actions bespeak a persistent abuse of the system that is unfair to Petitioner and all of the courts involved.” 

lonce@adjuster.com