Urias

We hold here that a judge’s failure to respond to or strike an allegedly untimely and legally insufficient statement of disqualification equates to a consent to disqualification pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 170.3, subdivision (c)(4). Under the circumstances here, the statement of disqualification was timely even though not asserted until after the judge granted a motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, we reverse that judgment. We also deny the petition of Harris Farms, Inc., for writ of mandate seeking to vacate a lower court order finding that the judge granting summary judgment was disqualified.

Manuel Urias (Urias or plaintiff) sued Harris Farms, Inc. (Harris Farms or defendant) for wrongful termination. Harris Farms brought a motion for summary judgment which was granted and judgment was entered for Harris Farms. The motion was heard by Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill, who had been appointed recently to the Fresno County Superior Court. A week later Urias filed a statement seeking to recuse the judge and a motion to set aside his grant of summary judgment. Urias claimed disqualification was necessary because the judge’s former law firm had represented…