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Judge Katherine Bacal

Johnson v. Altamirano | Malicious Prosecution, Conversion, etc. (State)

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After trial, Johnson discovered that David Huffman, Richard Turner, Manuel Altamirano & David Kinney had siphoned $475,000 of his Storix earnings while he was on medical leave in 2011 - shortly after he gave them their stock in the company for free. This finally explained their need to keep Johnson out of the company and its financial records. So Johnson filed a new lawsuit which included a claim of malicious prosecution against them and  David Smiljkovich for filing and continuing the frivolous Janstor Suit against Johnson for competing, knowing he was living in Florida and no competing business ever existed.

 

The case was assigned to Judge Katherine A. Bacal, rated the worst judge in San Diego, who refused to enter default against the defendant when they failed to answer, then allowed them to file motions to dismiss the claims while the default was pending. This legal abuse prevented Johnson from amending his complaint to avoid Bacal dismissing the with prejudice after forced him to post a $180,000 out-of-state plaintiff's bond to cover the defendants' costs.

 

Judge Bacal held an initial status conference where Procopio attorney Sean Sullivan stood with Management (even though Storix was not a party to the case). She made clear that she was not going to allow Johnson's claims to be heard, so Johnson filed a peremptory challenge (statutory right to transfer a case to a different judge before any hearings), which Judge Bacal illegally rejected without explanation. Johnson had to voluntarily dismiss the suit and file it in federal court instead to have it heard by a different judge. Judge Bacal retaliated by making Johnson pay the defendants (who were still using his own Storix profits for their defense) over $15,000 in costs and fees for filing their motions.

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And, if that weren't bad enough, Judge Bacal then ordered Johnson to pay the defendants another $15,000 in attorney fees for opposing an appeal that the California Court of Appeals chose not to decide (becuse it involved due process violations by Judge Bacal herself). Of course, Bacal knew the defendants were still having Wilson/Elser send all their attorney bills to Storix for payment, meaning they were still doing the exact thing they were being sued for. None of this mattered. She did this even as the Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit against her based on these very violations was still pending.

 

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​YELLOW = most relevant pleadings and appeal briefs in which Johnson brought to each court's attention clear legal errors and intentional omission of facts, issues and arguments in the orders, judgements and opinions.

GREEN = most relevant orders and opinions of the courts showing the judges' continued refusal to address any of Johnson's facts, issues or arguments.

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  * Some of the documents contain comments added by Johnson as he prepared his responses and appeals,
     and some may contain insults or foul language, but were retained since they provide context as to the absurdity of
     the opposing arguments and the court's decisions.

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  JUMP TO STATE APPEALS  

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  JUMP TO FEDERAL MALICIOUS PROSECUTION CASE  

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