Sunrise Fin., LLC v. Superior Court of San Diego Cnty.

*118 In August 2017, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil was assigned as the independent calendar judge to preside over a case brought by Overland Direct, Inc., and CTPC, LLC (collectively Overland) alleging defendants fraudulently induced Overland to assign security interests in various properties to certain defendants. In January 2018, Overland moved to transfer and consolidate its other cases involving similar fraud allegations, including one from the San Bernardino County Superior Court and one from the Los Angeles County Superior Court. ( Code Civ. Proc., § 403 ; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.500.) 1 Some defendants in the San Bernardino and Los Angeles cases were not already part of the San Diego County action, as they were third-party purchasers of properties located in these other counties. Over written opposition by these defendants, Judge Wohlfeil granted the transfer motion and ordered the San Bernardino and Los Angeles cases transferred to San Diego County Superior Court and consolidated with Overland's existing San Diego case.

Three of the defendants in the San Bernardino action (referred to as the Sunrise defendants) 2 then brought a section 170.6…