George R. Caesar, M.D. v. Louis P. Mountanos, as Sheriff of the County of Marin, State of California

JAMESON, District Judge:

Petitioner, Dr. George R. Caesar, a licensed psychiatrist practicing in California, has appealed from an order denying his petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking to set aside a contempt adjudication and sentence in the California Superior Court, Marin County.1 He was adjudged in contempt for refusing to obey an order directing him to answer questions relating to communications with a former patient, based on “patient-litigant exception” to the psychotherapist-patient privilege, contained in California Evidence Code § 1016.2 Petitioner contends that § 1016 violates…