Doctoroff

California Coastal Farms, Inc. (Employer) appeals the superior court’s denial of its petition for extraordinary writ seeking to halt an administrative unfair labor practice hearing brought against the Employer and to disqualify the administrative law officer (ALO), Richard M. Doctoroff, assigned by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (Board) to hear the case. The trial court denied the Employer’s petition due to “lack of jurisdiction.” The Employer appeals urging a denial of due process.

Facts

The ALRB director filed a complaint charging the Employer, an agricultural business corporation, with a variety of unfair labor practices in violation of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act (Lab. Code, § 1140 et seq.). At a prehearing conference, the Employer filed a motion to disqualify Doctoroff under the Board’s regulation (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 8) section 20263, charging Doctoroff could not fairly and impartially decide the merits of the charges due to his bias and incompetency. Doctoroff refused to disqualify himself. The Employer renewed its motion the next day and then filed a third motion to disqualify during a continuance of the hearing; each time additional grounds…