COURTROOM BIAS PROMPTS REASSIGNMENT : COMMISSIONER MOVED AFTER ATTORNEY COMPLAINS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Superior Court Commissioner Victor Reichman has been reassigned to Sylmar Juvenile Court beginning today after a judge ruled in favor of an attorney who claimed Reichman is biased against her.

Palmdale attorney Sandra Coffee filed a complaint to disqualify Reichman from hearing her cases in dependency court, which handles children made court wards because of neglect or abuse.

``I asked Victor Reichman to recuse himself from my cases because I believe he has prejudice and bias toward me and is incapable of ruling fairly in matters that I'm involved with,'' Coffee said.

Coffee said the complaint stemmed from a letter she wrote to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich complaining about a court policy switch that resulted in dependency cases from Santa Clarita being filed in Monterey Park rather than Lancaster.

Supervising juvenile judges agreed to have new Santa Clarita cases heard in Monterey Park after Reichman raised the issue of the overburdened Lancaster court taking on cases from outside its jurisdiction.

``Victor Reichman took it personally. He wrote a four-page response lambasting me,'' Coffee said. She added he removed her from a pool of attorneys, from which judges select lawyers to assign to dependency cases.

Reichman, however, contends Coffee's accusation of bias was in retaliation for her removal from the attorney panel last August. One of the reasons he removed her was because he believed she was billing Los Angeles County for work that she didn't do or was inflating her requests for payment.

``She wasn't making it as a private attorney, got on the panel and made money,'' Reichman said. ``I removed her from the panel.''

Coffee called Reichman's allegations about billing a ``red herring,'' although she acknowledged she has made mistakes in the past on billing documents.

``I'm an honest person. I've never been investigated. Nothing's ever been done about my billing,'' Coffee said.

The Judicial Council of California assigned the disqualification matter to be heard by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge James Ford, who issued a ruling April 15.

Ford said Reichman should be disqualified from hearing cases involving Coffee, on the basis that ``the ordinary man in the street would have a doubt as to the capacity of the judge to be fair.''

Reichman said neither the ruling nor Coffee cited a case where Reichman demonstrated prejudice. Coffee said the bias is against her personally.

``He has contempt for me,'' Coffee said.

Reichman, who presides over dependency and juvenile delinquency cases, said he did not know whether the new assignment in Sylmar was permanent or temporary.

Reichman said the decision was made by Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Richard Montes, who did not return telephone calls Tuesday. It was not known who was going to replace Reichman today.

``I assume it has something to do with this,'' Reichman said of the Coffee matter.

This is the second time Reichman has been transferred from Lancaster Superior Court.

Reichman was reassigned in August 1992 following a dispute with former Lancaster Supervising Judge Haig Kehiayan over the scheduling of conferences for civil cases, officials said. Reichman was reassigned back to Lancaster in January 1995.

Coffee also has sent letters to Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti and state Attorney General Dan Lungren, demanding an investigation of Reichman for ``actively engaging in judicial misconduct, obstruction of justice and dissuading a witness.''