Judge Fern M. Smith
Judge, N.D. CA
Republican
Court: CAND
Born: 1933-01-01
Education
| School | Degree | Year |
|---|
| Stanford University | J.D. | 1975 |
| Stanford University | B.A. | 1972 |
Judicial Positions
| Court | Position | Start | End |
|---|
| N.D. CA | Judge | 1988 | 2005 |
| CA Superior Court | Judge | 1986 | 1988 |
Disposition Patterns — CAND
How 233,800 cases ended in this court (FJC Integrated Database)
17,943
Judgment for Plaintiff
| Case Type | Total | Settled | Dismissed | Trial | Pretrial | Avg Award |
|---|
| General | 18,130 | 0% | 39% | 33% | 0% | — |
| Civil Rights | 14,390 | 1% | 54% | 25% | 0% | $79,750 |
| Other Civil Rights | 13,631 | 24% | 23% | 22% | 0% | $728,329 |
| Personal Injury - Product Liability | 13,477 | 17% | 6% | 2% | 0% | $564,250 |
| Other Contract | 12,001 | 25% | 12% | 15% | 5% | $524,797 |
| Other Statutory Actions | 11,762 | 19% | 21% | 15% | 2% | $1,996,361 |
| Employment | 11,374 | 31% | 14% | 21% | 0% | $446,750 |
| Prison Condition | 9,401 | 2% | 41% | 25% | 0% | $46,000 |
| Employee Retirement Income Security Act | 9,130 | 26% | 7% | 18% | 9% | $352,818 |
| Insurance | 6,933 | 32% | 9% | 18% | 1% | $734,322 |
| ADA - Other | 6,803 | 34% | 5% | 7% | 1% | $1,187,244 |
| Recovery of Student Loans | 6,776 | 5% | 10% | 15% | 47% | $56,183 |
| Patent | 5,856 | 25% | 8% | 19% | 1% | $1,296,750 |
| Securities/Commodities/Exchange | 4,600 | 17% | 14% | 26% | 1% | $896,968 |
| Trademark | 4,466 | 28% | 6% | 17% | 5% | $481,147 |
| Copyrights | 4,395 | 23% | 7% | 13% | 4% | $843,869 |
| Other Labor Litigation | 4,323 | 22% | 7% | 16% | 6% | $386,932 |
| Recovery of Veteran Benefits | 4,187 | 0% | 48% | 1% | 31% | $1,669 |
| Other Personal Injury | 3,466 | 23% | 20% | 18% | 0% | $533,728 |
| SSID Title XVI | 3,104 | 1% | 14% | 35% | 0% | $1,500 |
California State Court Analytics by Category
| Category | Filings | Settled | Dismissed | Trial | Default | Median Duration |
|---|
| Landlord-Tenant | 320,000 | 32.1% | 29.5% | 1.8% | 31.2% | 48d |
| Contract | 178,000 | 36.2% | 25.8% | 2.5% | 30.1% | 295d |
| Divorce/Family | 135,000 | 54.8% | 20.3% | 4.2% | 15.1% | 340d |
| Personal Injury | 72,500 | 69.4% | 17.2% | 3.5% | 5.2% | 425d |
| Consumer Protection | 48,898 | 34.2% | 22.8% | 2.4% | 35.1% | 195d |
| Workers' Comp | 36,091 | 71.2% | 12.4% | 6.8% | 3.2% | 445d |
| Employment | 28,500 | 66.5% | 19.8% | 5.2% | 4.8% | 460d |
| Wrongful Death | 4,424 | 72.5% | 14.8% | 5.2% | 3.1% | 520d |
Source: California Administrative Office of the Courts
Financial Disclosures (69 holdings)
| Year | Description | Value Code |
|---|
| 2004 | Apphed Materials | |
| 2004 | Baxter Int. PFD 7% | |
| 2004 | Comcast | |
| 2004 | Hewlett-Packard | |
| 2004 | Honeywell Int. | |
| 2004 | Honeywell Int. | |
| 2004 | Intel (common) | |
| 2004 | LSILogic 22. -McKesson HBOC, Inc. (common) | -1 |
| 2004 | Lucent Tech | |
| 2004 | Merrill Lynch Money Market | |
| 2004 | NUV Insd Opp Fund | |
| 2004 | Oracle | |
| 2004 | Oracle Corp. (common) | |
| 2004 | Pfizer | |
| 2004 | Sara Lee | |
| 2004 | Sempra Energy | |
| 2003 | 3Com Corp.(common) | |
| 2003 | ATT&T Wireless | |
| 2003 | Applied Materials | |
| 2003 | Ascential Software | |
| 2003 | Bank America Corp. (common) | |
| 2003 | Baxter Int. PFD 7% _ | |
| 2003 | Chevron Tax Corp. (common) | |
| 2003 | Comcast : | |
| 2003 | Delphi Automotive | |
| 2003 | Delphi Corp | |
| 2003 | Duke Energy | |
| 2003 | Equity Office Partners Tr | |
| 2003 | Evergreen Money Market f/k/a Schwab Money Market | |
| 2003 | First Australia Fund (MF) (now Aberdeen Australia) | |
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