Ruiz

In limited jurisdiction courts of the Central District of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, a misdemeanor case at arraignment is assigned by matrix to a division for a pretrial hearing. When the case is ready to be tried, that division most likely will transfer it to another division for trial. Here, the pretrial division transferred a case for trial and defendant Javier Ruiz filed a Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 (section 170.6) peremptory challenge in the trial division.

The issue before us is whether the challenge was timely, and, more specifically, whether the pretrial court is a “master calendar” under section 170.6, requiring defendant to have filed the challenge in the pretrial court. Based on the record before us and the current state of court rules and other applicable authority, we conclude that the pretrial court was not a master calendar and that defendant’s challenge was therefore timely.

BACKGROUND

Defendant was charged with misdemeanor offenses by complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, central district, limited jurisdiction, on September 16, 2003. (People v. Ruiz (Super. Ct. L.A. County, No. 3CR12558).) At arraignment, the…