Jovine

This is a case about due process of law. Plaintiff Leo Baumohl appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of his employer, FHP, Inc. (FHP), and his supervisor, Charles Kiskaden (Kiskaden; collectively, defendants) after the trial court confirmed and adopted the decisions of a court-appointed referee on three motions for summary adjudication filed by the defendants.

Our review of the appellate record demonstrates that the trial court’s reference of such law and motion matters was not authorized by either statute or the consent of the parties and amounted to an improper delegation of judicial power. We therefore shall reverse the judgment without reaching or discussing the merits of defendants’ summary adjudication motions. Whether right or wrong, the parties on each side of a dispositive motion are entitled to have the issues fully considered and resolved by the trial court and, in the absence of a proper stipulation, the responsibility to decide cannot be delegated irrespective of the burdens imposed by the court’s pending caseload.

Factual and Procedural Background

This case arises out of the termination of plaintiff’s employment by FHP in September 1993. On…