Code Civ. Proc., § 838 · Article 5. Judge

Code Civ. Proc., § 838

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) (1) In a comprehensive adjudication conducted pursuant to this chapter, a judge of a superior court of a county that overlies the basin or any portion of the basin shall be disqualified. The Chairperson of the Judicial Council shall assign a judge to preside in all proceedings in the comprehensive adjudication.

(2) A judge of the superior court in which an action is filed may, on the court’s own motion or the motion of a party, determine if the action is a comprehensive adjudication under Section 833. A motion for a determination pursuant to this paragraph shall receive calendar preference within the action and shall be resolved before other procedural or dispositive motions.

(b) A comprehensive adjudication is presumed to be a complex action under Rule 3.400 of the California Rules of Court.

(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 10726.6 of the Water Code, an action against a groundwater sustainability agency that is located in a basin that is being adjudicated pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to transfer, coordination, and consolidation with the comprehensive adjudication, as appropriate, if the action concerns the adoption, substance, or implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan, or the groundwater sustainability agency’s compliance with the timelines in the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

(e) The judge assigned by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council pursuant to subdivision (a) shall determine if transfer, coordination, or consolidation is appropriate.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 672, Sec. 1. (AB 1390) Effective January 1, 2016.

Source of truth

Edition: As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=838.
Text hash: sha256 4f5272ccff307cc6f8953d7878955b1d7d6150d1b10290331460cc40ed3b68d6
Composed by: compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

This section cites

Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.

Code of Civil Procedure

Water Code

Wat. Code, § 10726.6Printed as Section 10726.6 of the Water Code

Cited by 1 provision

Provisions in this library whose text cites Code Civ. Proc., § 838. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.

California Rules of Court

Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.404Requesting assignment of judge when a comprehensive groundwater adjudication is filed in a court overlying the groundwater basin at issuePrinted as Code of Civil Procedure section 838(a)(1)

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.