Robert I. Weil, 83; Superior Court Judge Was a Master at Settling Disputes

Former Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert I. Weil, who co-wrote the book on pretrial procedures for civil cases and was known for his ability to settle suits out of court, has died. He was 83.

Weil died Saturday in his Los Angeles home of natural causes, said his daughter, Janet Kropp.

Considered an elder statesman of dispute resolution both in and out of court, Weil spent more than 50 years simplifying the intricacies of civil law -- 25 years as a lawyer specializing in business, entertainment and real estate litigation, 15 years on the Superior Court bench, and afterward as a private judge arbitrating or mediating disputes outside of court.

The affable and intellectual Weil was highly respected by lawyers as coauthor of the how-to book they all used, the three-volume “Civil Procedure Before Trial” handbook published in 1983.

Equipped with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, Weil wrote as easily as he persuaded lawyers to settle a case. He served on the editorial board and wrote several articles for California Lawyer magazine.

Among them were “Braces for the Old Tiger’s New Teeth: A Summary and Judgment of the New Summary Judgment Law,” which he co-wrote with Judge Ira A. Brown in 1984, and “This Judge for Hire,” which he wrote in 1992 after joining the so-called rent-a-judge system.

For a time he also wrote a column, “From Weil’s Files,” for California Courts Commentary.

During Weil’s tenure on the Superior Court, from 1975 until 1990, he proved so adept at settling cases without a trial that he was dubbed “the great settler.”

One of his major accomplishments was the mutual resolution -- or settlement -- of a multiparty lawsuit over the 1983 Big Rock Mesa landslide near Malibu for $96.8 million. In that case, 238 homeowners whose houses were destroyed or severely damaged sued the state Department of Transportation for destabilizing the mountain by creating Pacific Coast Highway, and Los Angeles County for permitting development with seepage pits and horizontal drains rather than sewers, which they claimed caused a rise in groundwater that triggered the landslide.

Weil worked on the settlement for three years. Attorneys in the case said settlement would never have happened without him.

Under the agreement that Weil approved on Jan. 3, 1989, none of the defendants admitted liability, but Caltrans paid $40 million, Los Angeles County paid $35 million and insurance companies $22 million. After attorney fees, each homeowner received about $200,000.

The settlement precluded a trial, in the suit seeking $200 million, which had been estimated would take from two to five years, involve 275 lawyers and cost more than $100 million in attorneys’ fees.

“I’m paid to do only one thing, and that’s keep the puck out of the net. The net is going to trial,” Weil told The Times after he announced the settlement.

That case came before Weil during his last four years on the court, when he spent his entire time meeting with lawyers to forge settlements. Courts, like litigants, prefer settlements because they end suits more quickly and save parties the cost and inconvenience of a trial and lengthy appeals.

Weil had a success rate of more than two-thirds. Later, in private judging, he said the rate rose to 85%.

“A settlement is an insurance policy. A settlement is certainty, even if I do sometimes say it represents equal unhappiness,” Weil told The Times in 1984. “It is insurance that you are not going to lose it all or win it all and that the case is over.”

Born in New York City, Weil moved to Los Angeles as a youngster and graduated from Los Angeles High School and UCLA. After the master’s at Columbia, he spent a few years as a newspaper reporter and worked for Associated Press in London.

He later returned to Los Angeles and in 1951 earned a law degree at USC, where he was editor of the law review.

After working for other law firms, he became a partner in Aaronson, Weil & Friedman in 1959 and practiced there until Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the bench in 1975.

In 1973, L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley named Weil to the city’s Police Commission, and he served for two years before resigning to become a judge.

Unlike most judges, Weil was never assigned to criminal court but was put to work in civil law, where his experience lay. As a judge, he handled cases involving such issues as bus fare hikes, challenges to the Conrad Hilton will, Bradley campaign finance reporting violations, campaign advertising and ballot descriptions, cuts in county healthcare and welfare, airport noise, slumlord hotels, soliciting by Hare Krishna members and other groups at Los Angeles International Airport, condo conversions and rent control.

When he went into private judging, Weil characteristically maintained his independence. He declined to join the handful of organizations then beginning to provide judges and facilities for the “rent-a-judge” dispute resolution system.

Instead, he developed what he called the Gold Card, an elite list of retired judges available to resolve disputes. The group attracted clients solely on its members’ reputations among lawyers.

Weil served on the board of the Jewish Federation Council of Los Angeles and was a trustee and president of the Leo Baeck Temple in West Los Angeles.

As a liberal Democrat, Weil was proud of having been on former President Nixon’s “enemies list.”

He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Dorothy; her two children, Janet Kropp and Tom Eudell; two sons from his previous marriage, David and Tim Weil; and seven grandchildren.

Services will be private.

The family has asked that any donations be sent to: Bet Tzedek, the House of Justice, 145 S. Fairfax Ave., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90036.