D.M.

Petitioner D.M. seeks a writ of mandate directing respondent superior court to vacate its order of October 14, 2010, denying D.M.’s peremptory challenge to Referee Kesler (the Referee) pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6, and to enter a new and different order transferring the matter to another judicial officer.

*882 The Referee denied D.M.’s peremptory challenge as untimely, on the ground the matter had been assigned by the presiding judge of the juvenile court to the Referee “for all purposes including trial,” and a peremptory challenge to an all-purpose judge must be made within 10 days after notice of the all-purpose assignment. (§ 170.6, subd. (a)(2).)

The timeliness of D.M.’s peremptory challenge to the Referee turns upon the validity of the “all-purpose assignment” to the Referee. The controlling statute provides a referee “shall not conduct any hearing to which the state or federal constitutional prohibitions against double jeopardy apply unless all of the parties thereto stipulate in writing that the referee may act in the capacity of a temporary judge.” (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 248, subd. (a), italics added.) Consequently, the presiding judge of…