This alleged father lives in an environment that is detrimental to her health and safety and the judge continues to send her with him for visitations OVERNIGHT and EVERY WEEK. The alleged father, among other things, refuses to seek medical care for her, refuses to give her the prescribed medications. The judge is acting as if he is a medical professional, claiming her severe allergies are to fruit juice (we can contradict this with doctors statements, she has severe allergies to environmental things such as pollen, trees, pets etc. ...) The judge has continuously violated my constitutional and statutory rights.

He has put me in a bad situation with my other child also by imposing duties and obligations on me, e.g., times of exchanges, that require me to be in two places at once. The judge pretty much has said by his orders that I should neglect my other child to comply with his orders.

During exchange events for visitation, the judge ordered ME to stay in MY CAR for ONE HOUR and ordered me to BRING A THIRD PARTY to exchange the child (specifically naming my fiance). In my trial today 6/20/2011, the judge ordered one of my witnesses to get off the stand before we were able to complete his examination and testimony.

Another instance was when the judge refused to admit evidence that displayed the nature of the alleged father and his grossly rude behavior towards this situation. In a recorded statement by alleged father stated, "this is just a game Im playing to win;" its intended use was to impeach the alleged father's testimony and claims against us.

This judge is extremely bias towards women, he has made statements to other women with whom I have spoken about them being not credible, claiming men are better than women etc. ... the judge has told me Im not credible, has told me to shut up, has disregarded my other child and says she is not important. I have not received a fair trial with this judge and it is severely impacting the health and well being of the child involved. It has also affected my other child, in her behavior, attitude and school performance when her sister is not around.

Judge Rigali inputs his own beliefs into these cases and does not give mothers a fair chance at protecting their children. This judge is very bias towards women, and is allowing his own beliefs to affect his rulings on cases, even if it means not following statutory laws.

He wont allow testimony to be heard and evidence submitted if HE thinks its irrelevant. I have always questioned paternity in my case, and have been refused DNA testing because the judge held it was not needed. The judge also disregarded the fact I was raped and abused by this alleged father and I have reports backing this up. He is abusing his judicial power and affecting many lives. Like the legislator says, its important to and of most concern of the courts to protect the health, safety and well being of the children, but that has not happened here with Judge James F Rigali. The Judges demeanor/decorum has been very inappropriate towards me and even my attorney. The Judges tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures in court are way out of line. The judge pre-judges everything happening in this and probably lots of other cases. His tone of voice he uses towards me, the gestures he uses and the way he acts while on the bench have come off to me as very bias and very rude which has been seen by my attorney and my witnesses sitting in the audience, and my own father. I have sat there watching the judge not paying any attention or listening to whats being said and you can easily tell by his gestures, I have witnessed him playing solitaire on his computer, sitting playing with his blackberry, getting up to get coffee, sitting there reading other case files when he SHOULD BE giving his 100% attention to what is going on in front of him even if he does not want to hear it. Had I known the issues with this judge before we had our first trial appearance in 2009, I would have filed a disqualification under Cal. Civ. Proc. Code 170.6

Update:

6/29/2011:

Judge makes statements on record as to me not being the childs mother (which was very inappropriate), and as far as hes concerned the possible father (petitioner) is the father and has always been the father (with no supporting evidence to prove the man is the biological father, hes going off his opinion and what he believes)

7/27/2011:

Judge Rigali awards me 2 hours of visitation with child at a pizza parlor because it was her birthday. Judge ordered potential father to comply with the local child support agency to get DNA testing done (and the father said it was not a problem to get the testing done). After we left the court room, the father tells my attorney there was a freak accident and the child was in the hospital. Judge Rigali re-called the case and admonished the father for not telling him and allowing him to make orders that could not be complied with. Grants Mother (myself) custody of the child until 8/3/2011 and told to bring the child to court if released from hospital. Child was severely injured while in custody of potential father, she was attacked by a dog and has multiple skull fractures and lacerations. She spent 4 days in the childrens hospital and had emergency surgery to her head. She has a titanium plate in her head and a mesh plate.

Judge Rigali made statements about the case and saying the case is staying in his court room and it wont leave his court. When we filed the motion for paternity in June, Local Child Support Agency was notified and served with the papers the case was set to be heard in a different court room/different judge in Santa Barbara County because a different judge hears cases involved with child support. Judge Rigali blamed me for trying to get it heard in another court room. San Luis Obispo County is the one providing child support services in this case (The case follows the custodial party and I reside in San Luis Obispo County)

8/3/11:

Judge Rigali takes the attorneys into chambers before the case is heard, tells the attorney if I was to proceed with the Motion for DNA testing I would lose my child and not see her for approximately 2 months. (Pending HE grants the motion) If I was to NOT proceed with the Motion for DNA testing, visitation would be set back to one week on/off and 50/50 custody. It was a lose/lose situation and I had no choice if I wanted to see my daughter (she was being sent down there no matter what choice we made)

We proceeded with wanting to know who the childs father is with the motion for paternity, Judge Rigali denies our motion for paternity after he already ordered potential father to do testing on 7/27/11. As of now there is no DNA testing on file proving who the father of the child is, Judge Rigali seems to be adamant that this guy is her father and deems so even though there are 4 other possible fathers (and he knows this). Judge denied motion based on time limit (on record), but we were well within our limit of two years from either the childs birth (7/2009) or the Judgment in 12/2009. We filed our motion to set aside paternity and requested paternity testing be completed in June 2011. (California Family code section 7646)

Judge Rigali sends the child back with father for one week on, one week off visitations even though she was severely harmed while in his custody and the father lives with dogs. Her injuries and medical needs dont seem to matter to him one bit. The judge deemed the injuries to the child as an accident without ever seeing the police reports or medical reports (which we have and had with us in court). The Judge seems to only be considering the best interest of the father not the child

Judge Rigali orders 50/50 custody (legal and physical) but says the father is responsible for medical care and that the child cannot be seen by any physician outside of Santa Barbara County (I live in San Luis Obispo county, and she has a specialist for her asthma/allergies in SLO county that she was sent to by her pediatrician in Santa Barbara County)

Judge Rigali found me in contempt for trying to protect my childs safety, health and well-being. The judge has always dismissed her health problems like hes a medical professional stating she has no health problems even though we have records backing everything up. With the child being forced to be sent down with the father at such a young age has caused her health to deteriorate. Now with her most recent severe injury to her brain which was caused by a dog while in fathers care the judge still dismisses the fact the father has dogs in his home that could potentially harm her again even though the injuries were sustained at a neighbors home. The judge keeps putting the child in a situation that is harming her medically and physically.

I was found guilty of contempt in May 2011, sentenced in August 2011. Judge Rigali kept putting off sentencing over and over for 3 months over multiple court hearings.