California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from City of Hanford v. Superior Court, 208 Cal.App.3d 580, 256 Cal.Rptr. 274 (Cal. App. 1989):
Assigning the same judge to hear a series of complex actions such as these where there exists subject matter overlap may promote judicial efficiency. However, judicial efficiency is not to be fostered at the expense of a litigant's rights under section 170.6 to peremptorily challenge a judge. In the same vein, the fact that a party can peremptorily challenge a judge after he has ruled in a case involving related factual or legal issues may result to some extent in forum shopping by parties filing later similar suits. However, collateral estoppel does not apply to disqualification motions. (Solberg v. Superior Court, supra, 19 Cal.3d 182, 190, fn. 6, 137 Cal.Rptr. 460, 561 P.2d 1148.)
In Solberg, the court held the People were not precluded from disqualifying a
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