Katherine A. Bacal

Judge · Superior Court of San Diego County · 2014–2026

Sitting now: Dept. 63, Hall of Justice — CIVIL IC (the court's data of 01:00AM 17 Oct 2026)

Judge, Superior Court of California, County of San Diego 2008–

B+

74% — 120 of 162 rulings upheld, per qwen3.8-27b; in the top 27% of 312 graded judges

On the assumption that the model is right — qwen3.8-27b reads the court's own disposition right 70% of the time, graded on a curve: A is the top fifth of the judges graded under this model, F the bottom fifth; ++ / + / − / −− within the band. How the grade is made.

91cases reviewed on appeal

32%reversed, in whole or part, of 81 merits decisions

Outcomes on appeal

affirmed 55 reversed 17 reversed in part 9 writ granted 5 dismissed 5

Areas

civil 88 probate 2 family 1

By year: 2025 11 · 2021 11 · 2016 11 · 2024 10 · 2026 9 · 2023 9 · 2015 7 · 2022 6 · 2020 6 · 2019 4 · 2018 4 · 2017 2 · 2014 1 ·

Analysis

158reviewed cases analysed

536rulings read

1rulings where the model disagrees with the court

26cases with a verified missed authority

1appellate opinions called questionable

Counts of a model's readings across this judge's reviewed cases, each shown on its case page beside the court's disposition. Not a finding about the judge.

Cases

The Kennedy Com. v. Super. Ct. D085237 · 2025-09-11 · civil · writ granted
San Diego Unified School Dist. v. Super. Ct. D083441 · 2024-05-28 · civil · writ granted
Contreras Curiel Corp. v. Superior Court CA4/1 D077407 · 2020-09-17 · civil · writ granted
City of San Diego v. Superior Court D073961M · 2019-01-07 · civil · writ granted
City of San Diego v. Superior Court D073961 · 2018-12-19 · civil · writ granted