COURT REFEREE (CALIFORNIA)
A referee may be appointed pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure section 638. This procedure allows for a Superior Court Judge to appoint a referee to hear all issues, or a limited scope of issues, contained in a civil matter if all parties agree to the appointment, the scope and the court agrees by entry of the order of reference. The court may also, by agreement of the parties, narrow the scope of the reference, to certain areas of the case including discovery disputes.
This procedure allows for speedy resolution of many issues and avoiding the full dockets of some of the courts.
