Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.920 · Chapter 2. Court-Ordered Reference Under Code of Civil Procedure Section 639
Purposes and conditions for appointment of referee
Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
(a) Purposes prescribed by statute
A court may order the appointment of a referee under Code of Civil Procedure section 639 only for the purposes specified in that section.
(b) No references for mediation
A court must not use the reference procedure under Code of Civil Procedure section 639 to appoint a person to conduct a mediation.
(c) Conditions for appointment of discovery referee
A discovery referee must not be appointed under Code of Civil Procedure section 639(a)(5) unless the exceptional circumstances of the particular case require the appointment.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
History
Rule 3.920 adopted effective January 1, 2007.
Advisory Committee Comment
Rule 3.920(b) is not intended to prohibit a court from appointing a referee to conduct a mandatory settlement conference in a complex case or, following the conclusion of a reference, from appointing a person who previously served as a referee to conduct a mediation.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/three/rule3_920
- Text hash
- sha256 258e4a9af738e3a54249e05b16985e8d11f1f577a771bae8a8ede21ed08e6314
- Composed by
- compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph
This rule 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.
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.