Terrazas is gone ... but What Happened?

To the best of our knowledge, the chain of events unfolded as follows:
  1. Dr. Sinaiko had asked his attorney to propose settlement talks to the Judge.

  2. Ron Joseph, Executive Director of the Medical Board of California (MBC), in a phone call with Dr. Sinaiko, said he was not opposed, and assured him that the MBC would not object to settlement negotiations if the Judge favored them.

  3. The MBC changed its mind, deciding that it was not a good idea to let settlement negotiations "sully the integrity of the administrative process." Hello?

  4. The next brief by Alfredo Terrazas, Deputy Attorney General and Prosecutor for the MBC, was an attempt to reject settlement "on procedural grounds."

  5. The Judge figured out (and stated from the bench) that clearly, whatever the procedural issues, the MBC didn't want to settle, so there was no point in her ordering settlement discussions that were unlikely to be fruitful.

  6. Terrazas next tried to get Judge Trena H. Burger-Plavan disqualified for "inability to decide the case due to extreme bias."

  7. Terrazas had previously gotten Judge Ford disqualified from the case, by the same tactic. There's only supposed to be one peremptory challenge, so Terrazas was pushing the envelope by requesting a second judge be disqualified.

  8. Judge Burger-Plavan denied the motion in a concise ruling, January 13, 2003. She herself is planning to decide the case.

  9. Next piece of information we heard -- Terrazas is OFF THE CASE! Was he fired? Was he punished? Did he quit in disgrace?

  10. NO - he was PROMOTED!! It seems that he has been promoted to assistant attorney general in charge of all professional licensing except physicians, PAs, PTs, and psychologists.

  11. While we may regret the promotion ... we rejoice that he was promoted out of the arena where he was putting doctors in harm's way.
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Court's Ruling Re Peremptory Challenge Per CCP §170.6
 by Judge Trena H. Burger-Plavan
January 13, 2003 Case No. 99CS02275
Case Title: Sinaiko vs. Medical Board

Note: "Respondent" here is the MBC represented by Alfredo Terrazas

      Respondent's motion to disqualify this court pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 is DENIED. This matter was assigned to Judge Burger-Plavan for all purposes by order of Presiding Judge Michael T. Garcia dated July 12, 2002. Respondent appeared in this action when it filed its responsive pleadings to the Petition on August 15, 2001. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6, when a case has been assigned to a judge for all purposes, a party who has appeared has 10 days after notice of the all purpose assignment to file a peremptory challenge. (See Stubblefield Construction Co. v. Superior Court, (2000) 81 Cal.App.4th 762.) In this instance, respondent's challenge was received on January 8, 2003, almost six months after the case was assigned to Judge Burger-Plavan. Accordingly, the challenge is untimely and must be denied.


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