BLUMENTHAL v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ORANGE COUNTY
Filed 3/10/06
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION THREE
| DEBORAH BRELANT BLUMENTHAL, Petitioner, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ORANGE COUNTY, Respondent; EDWARD BLUMENTHAL, Real Party In Interest. | G036590 (Super. Ct. No. 99D008403) O P I N I O N |
Original proceedings; petition for a writ of mandate to challenge an order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Nancy A. Pollard, Judge. Petition granted.
Dell'Ario & LeBoeuf, A. Charles Dell'Ario, Jacques LeBoeuf; Langston Williams Professional Corporation and Joanne Langston for Petitioner.
Law Offices of Patricia J. Grace and Patricia J. Grace for Real Party in Interest.
No appearance for Respondent.
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I. SUMMARY
In this writ proceeding we hold that the trial judge abused her discretion in declaring a mistrial in a family law case merely because the parties did not complete the long-cause trial of a dissolution prior to an arbitrary deadline set by the trial judge. (The actual trial, in fact, had consumed less than two court days, and there was only one witness left to call and only a few more hours left to go.[1])
We also hold, since trial was already in progress, that it was â€
