Bio

A respected trial judge for over 22 years, with over four decades’ experience litigating, adjudicating, and
settling civil and probate cases, Judge Holland draws upon extensive experience in service to litigants
and would–be litigants. Judge Holland has successfully mediated, managed, refereed or arbitrated a
wide range of disputes: trust, probate, and conservatorship; contract and business matters; personal
injury, products liability and professional malpractice; real estate and construction defect; and
individual, class and PAGA employment claims.
Representative matters:

Probate/Estates – Judge Holland has successfully resolved countless trust, probate and conservatorship
estate claims encompassing validity/interpretation of instruments, duties owed by fiduciaries,
administration and accountings, capacity/undue influence, as well as claims concerning ownership of
property.
• Successfully mediated division of trust assets – hundreds of acres of farm land and control of
related business/operations entities plus other valuable assets – between siblings/beneficiaries
along with resolution of long–standing litigation.
• Arbitrated dispute between feuding high–income adult siblings concerning a verbal
arrangement whereby they were to contribute money for care for their conserved mother.
• Mediated settlement of drawn out litigation between settlor’s children and settlor’s
grandchildren re validity of amendments executed before settlor’s death in light of alleged
breach of fiduciary duty, undue influence and elder abuse.
• Mediated resolution of litigation among family members concerning successor trustee’s
management of deceased settlor’s businesses (which settlor had operated illegally), adequacy
of accountings, and perceived dilatory administration.
• Successfully mediated litigation among five sibling/beneficiaries against eldest brother/trustee
concerning his management of valuable San Francisco real estate.
• Successfully mediated acrimonious litigation between two siblings – one of whom was subject
of investigation for attempted battery of the other sibling – concerning division of assets
including a valuable collection of cars and motor vehicles.
• Special master tasked with case–managing, mediating and arbitrating petitions stemming from
conflicts among beneficiaries concerning winding–up or continued operation of inter–related
trusts’ sizable real estate/business portfolios.
• Hogan Family Trust (as judge, managed and adjudicated complex trust dispute among
siblings/beneficiaries).
• Muir–Hanna Family Trust (as judge, managed and adjudicated cross petitions among
descendants of renowned conservationist John Muir concerning terms of a trust created to manage Muir’s legacy – including Muir’s handwritten journals and drawings; his notes, photos
and personal correspondence; along with Muir’s personal library and mountain cabin)1.

Business/Contract/Real Property – Judge Holland has resolved a wide range of commercial disputes:
breach of contract claims (including claims arising from failed real estate transactions),
dissolution/partition of business entities, and business–to–business disputes re express or implied
warranty, unfair business practices, etc.
• Arbitrated action – in which capacity, validity of power of attorney, and buyer performance
were all in issue – seeking specific performance as against owner of sizable farm acreage in
Northern Sacramento Valley.
• Successfully mediated dispute between county agency and charitable non–profit concerning
rights and obligations pertinent to management of and fund–raising for a local zoo.
• Successfully mediated complex contract dispute between large metropolitan public school
district and a national provider of IT/software products.
• Successfully resolved a contentious business dissolution/partition matter between former
business partners.
• Arbitrated and case–managed complex breach of contract matter between real estate
developer and public water district.
• BAPH3 v. Padilla (as judge, managed the litigation and presided over jury trial of a complex
contact/business case).
• Mitchell Engineering v. City/County of San Francisco (as judge, successfully used mediator’s
proposal to resolve case brought by engineer/contractor hired to design/build new
infrastructure at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir).
• Rivertree Partnership v. Reed Leasing Group (as judge, managed and adjudicated lengthy
complex commercial dispute between grower and sand/gravel extractor).

Tort/Personal Injury/Professional Liability
• Mediated settlement of a serious personal injury claim arising from a complex workplace
environment occupied by employer along with numerous vendors and independent contractors,
overlaid with unsettled insurance issues.
• In an auto/injury case – featuring disputed injuries, significant pre–existing medical history,
allegedly unnecessary post–accident surgery and problematic liens and, finally, a reluctant
umbrella insurer – Judge Holland guided the parties to comprehensive settlement.
• Following a multi–car pileup on Interstate 5 in which many were injured (some fatally), for which
the primary and excess insurers for the negligent commercial truck operator tendered policy
limits ($6 million), Judge Holland successfully mediated an allocation agreement among the
competing claimants.
• In a UIM matter – car collision one foggy night on Highway 99 near Fresno; plaintiff’s injuries,
extensive treatment and wage loss were disputed – the matter was successfully mediated.
• Mediated settlement of a malpractice case involving an elderly patient who, despite safeguards,
got up from the hospital bed and fell.
• Tucker v. Center for Sight (as judge, presided over jury trial of physician malpractice claim).

1 Following final judgement, the Trust’s entire collection was donated to the University of the Pacific.
You can learn more about UOP’s John Muir Center at: https://liberalarts.pacific.edu/liberalarts/about/centers-and-institutes/john-muir-center

• Lang v. Geweke Auto Mall (as judge, presided over lengthy jury trial of serious personal injury
claims).
• Meyers v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (as judge, presided over jury trial of FELA
claim).

Employment/Wage & Hour – Judge Holland has mediated, arbitrated or served as special master
running the gamut of employment disputes.
• Mediated a non–monetary resolution – an agreed code of conduct – between school district’s
superintendent and elected board member. The agreed code was designed to set conditions
whereby they might reduce frictions, mend a serious rift, and reestablish a professional working
relationship.
• Special master appointed to assist trial court re litigation brought by a former city manager
against municipality.
• Arbitrator for action by former employees of a small business/manufacturer alleging sexual
harassment by supervisors.
• Mediated settlement of sexual orientation discrimination claim by former on–site manager
against real estate owners/property management entity.
• Tabaie v. Stockton Unified School District (as judge, case–managed and presided over jury trial of
wrongful termination claim).
• Reynolds v. Odyssey Landscaping (as judge, case–managed and adjudicated complex hours,
classification and prevailing wage litigation).

Mandamus/Environmental Law
• Stockton Black Leadership Council v. City of Stockton (as judge, adjudicated legality of incumbent
mayor’s re–election bid).
•Stockton Police Officers’ Association v. City of Stockton, and Stockton Firefighters’ Local 456 v.
City of Stockton (as judge, managed litigation between police and fire unions and the City during
the run–up to City’s municipal bankruptcy).
• Tracy Alliance for a Quality Community v. City of Tracy (as judge, adjudicated challenge to EIR
and development agreement).
• Yuba County Water Agency v. State Water Resources Control Board (as judge, adjudicated five
consolidated lawsuits challenging legality of Water Board decision).
• Boliou v. Stockton Unified School District (as judge, in a matter of first impression, adjudicated
teacher’s mandamus action seeking attorneys’ fees following school district’s decision to
withdraw disciplinary charges).
• Stockton Unified School District v. California Interscholastic Federation (as judge, adjudicated
school district’s lawsuit challenging CIF’s authority concerning player eligibility).

Discovery Referee – Judge Holland has served as referee in diverse discovery matters including
employment (individual, PAGA and class claims), trusts/probate matters, personal injury/professional
malpractice actions, claims stemming from agricultural/business/real estate disputes, and has
experience with application of the California Public Records Act.
Judge Holland is a graduate of Occidental College and earned his J.D. degree from the University of
California College of the Law, San Francisco. In spring 2019, Judge Holland completed the Straus
Institute’s (Pepperdine University School of Law) intensive 42–hour program – “Mediating the Litigated

Case”. Judge Holland serves as a mediator for the Third District Court of Appeal’s civil mediation
program and is on the Commission on Judicial Performance’s panel of qualified special masters.
Judge Holland served on the Superior Court of California from 1996 to 2019. He was selected to the
court’s executive committee in 2008, named as the San Joaquin court’s first supervising civil judge in
2011, and was elected Presiding Judge in 2014.
Judge Holland is a past president and current member of the Judge Consuelo M. Callahan Inn of Court;
current member of local bar associations in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties; and a current
member and past board member of the California Judges Association.