New judge will hear cases challenging Measure ULA tax

About a month before hearings are scheduled for highly anticipated legal challenges against Los Angeles’ Measure ULA transfer tax, the case has a new judge, The Real Deal has learned.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner was assigned to the case.

On Aug. 7, a document giving notice of reassignment and order for plaintiff to give notice was filed. Former Judge Curtis Kin informed the case’s lawyers in May that he would be reassigned to Los Angeles Superior Court’s Writ and Receivers Departments.

The reasons for Kin’s reassignment was not immediately known. Lipner was not made available for comment. A message from L.A. Superior Court’s media representative said the California Code of Judicial Ethics prohibits judges from commenting on pending cases.

The challenges to Measure ULA taxes are the consolidated cases of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Apartment Association of Greater of Los Angeles v. City of Los Angeles and Newcastle Courtyards v. City of Los Angeles. The case’s next  scheduled hearing date, Sept. 21,  has not changed.

AAGLA and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association contend that the tax was invalid because it amounted to a “special” tax, which local governments don’t have the authority to impose. 

The Newcastle case argues that the ULA tax violates the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which includes protections against government takings, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which relates to equal protection.

Gonzalo Freixes, a lawyer and a professor at UCLA Anderson School, said it is not uncommon for judges to get reassigned for reasons as simple as the judge wanted new responsibilities.  Courts strive for judges to stay impartial, Freixes said.

“The judges are not reassigned due to political leanings,” Freixes said. Lawyers, especially in criminal cases, might shop for judges deemed to be more friendly to their clients, and request new judges — something they can only do once in a case, he said. The practice is not as common in civil cases. Freixes has not worked or consulted on the lawsuits challenging ULA transfer taxes.

Keith Fromm, an attorney representing plaintiff Newcastle Courtyards, questioned Kin’s reassignment. Lipner has worked as a partner with the firm Irell & Manella, which is representing defendants in the case such as Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing. Fromm questioned if the new judge could be impartial.

“To put it bluntly, whatever the reality may be, the appearance stinks. Without in any way casting any aspersions on Judge Lipner, I would hope that he would follow the most ethical and ‘above reproach’ course and simply recuse himself from this case,” Fromm said. 

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