Motion to Recuse a Judge in California: Peremptory and For-Cause

To file a motion to recuse a judge in California, you use one of two statutes. Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 lets you disqualify one judge without proving anything, but each side gets only one such challenge for the whole case. Code of Civil Procedure section 170.1 lets you challenge a judge for cause by presenting facts that show bias or a conflict of interest, with no numerical limit. Both routes have short, unforgiving deadlines.

The Peremptory Challenge Under CCP 170.6

This is the simpler tool and, in the right window, the more powerful one. You file a sworn statement saying you believe the judge is prejudiced against you or your interests and that you cannot receive a fair hearing. That is it. No hearing is held, no evidence is offered, and the judge has no authority to deny a timely challenge or ask why you filed it.¹

The catch is that you only get one. All plaintiffs together count as a side, and all defendants together count as a side. Three co-defendants share a single challenge. Once it is used, it is gone for the rest of the case regardless of how many judges later touch the file.¹

Courts have upheld the challenge even when attorneys file it systematically against a particular judge across many cases. The one substantive limit courts have imposed is that a peremptory challenge cannot be based on the judge’s race.

Deadlines for a Peremptory Challenge

The window depends on how your court assigns cases.

If the judge is known at least 10 days before the trial or hearing: file no later than five days before that date.
Master calendar system: file no later than the moment the case is assigned to a judge for trial.
All-purpose assignment in a civil case: file within 15 days after you receive notice of the assignment, or within 15 days after your first appearance if you had not yet appeared.
All-purpose assignment in a criminal case: file within 10 days after notice, or within 10 days after your first appearance.
Single-judge court: file within 30 days of your first appearance.

A hard outer limit applies in every scenario. You cannot file a peremptory challenge after the first juror is called, and in a non-jury case you cannot file after the plaintiff’s opening statement or the swearing of the first witness.¹

The For-Cause Challenge Under CCP 170.1

Section 170.1 lists situations where a judge is legally required to step aside. The statute puts the duty on the judge: it says a judge “shall be disqualified” when a listed circumstance exists, so the judge is supposed to recuse on their own. When that does not happen, a party can force the issue by filing a written statement of disqualification.²

The grounds include personal knowledge of disputed facts in the case; prior representation of a party in the same matter, or a party or lawyer having been a client or law-firm associate of the judge within the past two years; a financial interest held by the judge, spouse, or a minor child in the household; a family relationship within three degrees to a party or to a party’s officer, director, or trustee; a family or private-practice association between a lawyer in the case and the judge or the judge’s spouse; and a catch-all standard covering any situation in which a person aware of all the facts might reasonably question the judge’s impartiality.²

The reasonable-person ground is the one parties invoke most often. You do not have to prove actual bias, only that the facts would cause a reasonable observer to doubt the judge’s impartiality.

What Does Not Count as Bias

Most for-cause challenges fail here. Disagreement with a judge’s rulings, even ones you believe are clearly wrong, almost never supports disqualification. Opinions a judge forms based on the evidence in the case are part of the job. Courts have held that rulings or courtroom conduct justify recusal only when they reveal favoritism or hostility so extreme that fair judgment is impossible. If the alleged bias came from something the judge learned inside the courtroom rather than outside it, the bar is very high.

The distinction that matters is concrete, verifiable, and usually external. A judge who ruled against you on a discovery motion is not biased. A judge who made disparaging comments about your ethnicity at a bar association event might be. Filing a challenge based on frustration with an unfavorable ruling wastes time and can invite sanctions.

What You File

For a peremptory challenge, the paperwork is minimal. You file a written affidavit or declaration under penalty of perjury, or make an oral statement under oath in court, saying you believe the assigned judge is prejudiced and that you cannot receive a fair hearing. No supporting evidence is required, and many attorneys use a short fill-in form.¹

A for-cause challenge takes real preparation. You file a verified written statement of disqualification laying out the specific facts. Verified means you sign under penalty of perjury that the facts are true. Attach a declaration setting out the factual details; Judicial Council form MC-030 works for the declaration.³ A supporting memorandum of points and authorities, tying the facts to one of the section 170.1 grounds, is standard practice.

The statement must be filed “at the earliest practicable opportunity” after you learn of the disqualifying facts. Sitting on the information and raising it only after an unfavorable ruling will likely get the statement rejected as untimely.⁴ Serve copies on every other party who has appeared, and personally serve the challenged judge or their clerk.

What Happens After You File

A timely peremptory challenge takes immediate effect. The assigned judge loses authority over the case, no hearing is held, and the presiding or supervising judge reassigns the matter. The process is essentially automatic.

A for-cause challenge triggers a longer sequence. The challenged judge has 10 days after the filing or service of the statement, whichever is later, to either consent to disqualification or file a written verified answer admitting or denying the allegations. Silence within those 10 days counts as consent.⁴

If the judge answers and disputes the claim, that judge cannot decide their own disqualification. The question goes to a different judge, who reviews the statement and answer and rules on it.⁴ There is one exception: if the statement is untimely on its face or fails to state any legal ground, the challenged judge may strike it without sending it out for review.⁵

What a Disqualified Judge Can Still Do

Disqualification does not strip the judge of every function while a replacement is arranged. Under section 170.4, a disqualified judge may still issue orders needed to maintain the court’s jurisdiction, hear purely default matters, set the case for trial or hearing, conduct settlement conferences, and request another judge agreed upon by the parties to take over. Anything outside those narrow tasks is off-limits.⁵

When a statement of disqualification is filed after a trial or hearing is already underway, the judge can order the proceeding to continue while another judge decides the disqualification question. If disqualification is ultimately found, every order and ruling made after the statement was filed gets vacated.⁵

Rulings the judge made before the disqualifying facts were known usually survive. The replacement judge is not supposed to set them aside absent good cause, so motions granted or denied earlier in the case will normally stand.⁴

Waivers

After disclosing the basis for disqualification on the record, a judge may ask the parties if they want to waive the conflict and let the judge continue. A valid waiver has to be signed by all parties and their lawyers and filed in the record. Two grounds can never be waived: personal bias or prejudice against a party, and the judge having previously served as a lawyer in the matter.⁴

If Your For-Cause Motion Is Denied

A denial is not appealable in the usual sense. The statute explicitly says the determination is not an appealable order, so your only route is a petition for writ of mandate in the Court of Appeal.⁴

The window is 10 days. You must file and serve the writ petition within 10 days after receiving written notice of the order denying disqualification. Service by mail adds the standard mailing extension. The Court of Appeal has discretion whether to grant the writ, and filing the petition does not automatically stop the trial court. Miss the 10 days and the issue is effectively lost.

Risks of a Meritless Challenge

A disqualification motion filed without a factual basis can bring sanctions. Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7 applies to any paper filed with the court, and by signing the filing an attorney or self-represented party certifies that it is not being filed to harass or delay, that it has a legal basis, and that its factual claims have evidentiary support. Violations can bring monetary penalties, attorney’s fees to the opposing party, or nonmonetary orders. The statute includes a 21-day safe harbor: the opposing party must serve the sanctions motion and give you 21 days to withdraw the filing before presenting it to the court.⁶

Section 170.4 also limits repeat filings. A party may file only one statement of disqualification against a particular judge unless genuinely new facts come to light after the first filing. Repetitive statements that rework the same grounds can be struck by the judge they target.⁵

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 170.6
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 170.1 – Disqualifications of Judges
3
California Courts. Declaration MC-030
4
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 170.3
5
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 170.4
6
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 128.7