How have courts dealt with a request for a statement of decision from a retired trial judge?

In Raville v. Singh (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 1127, the trial judge announced his tentative decision in open court. After trial, a litigant submitted a written request for a statement of decision. A proposed statement of decision and judgment were submitted to the trial judge. Objections were filed and before ruling on the objections, the trial judge died. The proposed statement of decision and judgment were submitted to the supervising judge for signature. The proposed statement of decision and judgment were signed. (Id. at pp. 1129-1130.) The court held that section 632 requires the trial judge, at a minimum, to issue a statement of decision in order to allow a supervising judge to sign a judgment for an incapacitated trial judge pursuant to section 635. The court held that the fact that the trial court has issued a statement of intended decision does not satisfy the statutory requirements of section 632. (Id. at pp. 1132-1133.)

In Armstrong v. Picquelle, supra, 157 Cal.App.3d 122, the trial court announced its tentative findings, which were entered in the minutes. The defendant filed a request for a statement of decision. The trial judge retired and plaintiff submitted his proposed statement of decision to the presiding judge, who signed the proposed statement of decision, then signed a judgment based on that statement of decision. (Id. at pp. 125-126.) The court concluded that a new trial was necessary because the defendant had

Page 7