Earl Riley; Former Judge Presided Over Early Civil Consumer Protection Trials

Former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Earl F. Riley, who presided over early civil consumer protection trials involving asbestos and the Dalkon Shield birth control device, has died. He was 79.

Riley, who served on the court from 1971 to 1987 and later conducted private arbitration of disputes, died Sunday in Kona, Hawaii, of a cerebral hemorrhage, said his wife, Susan Canter.

During his 16 years on the bench, handling divorce, probate, civil and criminal trials, Riley developed a reputation for his practical, thorough legal mind and for his patience and humor.

Described affectionately as “Irish as the Blarney Stone” and given to wearing bright plaid sport coats under his austere black robe, Riley told prospective jurors March 19, 1980, before the start of the first of more than 1,000 pending civil suits against asbestos manufacturers:

“Anybody who would call a jury panel of 300 on St. Patrick’s Day had to be subject to Murphy’s Law [if anything can go wrong, it will].”

What went wrong was that Riley on March 17 had failed to warn the prospective jurors to avoid reading anything about the case. Many did read a story printed in The Times about the forthcoming trial on March 18, so Riley had no choice but to dismiss all 300 people the next day.

“I’ll save time for applause if you like,” he joked after explaining his mistake.

In the case of the Dalkon Shield contraceptive device, which many users claimed caused injuries, the no-nonsense Riley approved damages but refused to permit punitive damages against the manufacturer.

But he even found something to enjoy about that case: the jurors, who dressed in red on St. Valentine’s Day and once cooked ravioli in the jury room. “That was the greatest jury I ever had in my life,” Riley told the Daily Journal legal newspaper years later. “I never saw a jury that ate so much.”

After his appointment to the bench by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, Riley supervised the Family Law Court, where divorces and custody cases are handled. He hated it, later commenting: “It was just two people who were trying to use every method they could to hurt each other.”

But he enjoyed his other assignments, including two years as the supervising judge of the Probate Department, in which wills, trusts and guardianships are processed. In one estate case long past conclusion of post-death probate, Riley approved a Time-Life Films Inc. contract to distribute 64 movies of silent film star Harold Lloyd.

“I enjoyed probate,” Riley reflected in 1982. “You have everything in the world cross your desk.”

Riley presided over criminal trials for a few years and civil for nearly a decade, always careful to explain when prosecutors were involved that his wife, Canter, was a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. Aside from the legal conflict of interest, he joked that he would never permit her to argue any case before him because “if I ruled against her, I wouldn’t get in the house that night.”

In civil court Riley had his share of palimony cases, in which an unmarried partner sues another for support. He made key rulings in the case brought by live-in chauffeur Scott Thorson against Liberace.

He also conducted the trial of Swedish pop star Peter Holm’s case involving financial support from ex-wife Joan Collins.

Born in Greensburg, Ind., Riley earned a bachelor’s degree at that state’s Hanover College and then flew bombers over Europe as a captain in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

His parents hoped that he would become a minister, but he decided after the war to go into law. He earned a law degree at the University of Michigan and then moved to Whittier to escape Midwestern winters.

Riley practiced law privately in Whittier for two decades, specializing in probate and business cases. He also served eight years on the Whittier Planning Commission and in 1958 ran unsuccessfully for the state Assembly.

After retiring from the bench, Riley handled private cases for the Santa Barbara-based Creative Dispute Resolution organization of “rent-a-judges.” He worked throughout Southern California and Hawaii.

In addition to his wife, Riley is survived by four children, Sharon Fellows, Patricia Chartrand, Erin Riley and Carla Riley-Felt, and five grandchildren.