State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Superior Court

Opinion

MALLANO, J.

In general, if a trial judge enters judgment in a civil action, and the judgment is reversed on appeal, resulting in a remand to the trial judge for a “new trial,” any party can disqualify the judge by way of a peremptory challenge. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 170.6, subd. (a)(2), 2d par.)

In the present case, after the pleading stage, defendant filed a motion in the trial court to resolve a conflict of laws issue: whether California law or Illinois law applied to plaintiffs’ causes of action. Defendant argued that Illinois law applied and that the case had to be dismissed.…