The Honorable Chinhayi Cadet

Opinions on my Hall of Shame are my own personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else, such as folks at my law firm. The fact that I have this Hall of Shame page on my personal website should also not be taken as an indication as to whether anyone at the firm does, or does not, share my views on Judge Cadet.

March 28, 2024

by Andrew G. Watters, Esq.

Update February 17, 2026: Everyone in the legal community was hoping that Judge Cadet would be reassigned in 2026. This did not happen. She remains in family law where her outrageous, illegal decisions deprive litigants of their civil rights and simply ruin lives. Incidentally, the Cole/Little trial transcript took one full year to be prepared, even including an Order to Show Cause filed by the Court of Appeal on the court reporter, which means the reporter and/or the judge intentionally prevented me from showing the following decision in January 2025 by Judge Cadet in order to suppress the truth:

Mr. Cole credibly testified that Ms. Little disturbed his peace when she fled the state with their infant son depriving Mr. Cole of contact with his infant son for approximately four months. His testimony established that being away from his infant son for four months, not knowing where his son was, being deprived of precious bonding time with his infant son, all disturbed his peace and destroyed his mental or emotional calm. He credibly testified that he had heart palpitations during the difficult period that he was separated from his infant son and that law enforcement intervention was needed to return his son to his custody. Exhibit 35 establishes that Ms. Little communicated to a member of Mr. Cole's family that she moved to Washington and that we will never come back to California. That will certainly destroy Mr. Cole's mental or emotional calm. Mr. Cole credibly testified that on August 6, 2024, Ms. Little physically and emotionally abused him by snatching a bottle from Giannis, from Giannis's mouth while Mr. Cole was feeding the infant child and by pushing and shoving Mr. Cole.  The evidence at trial established that Ms. Little violated the Temporary Restraining Order and continued to harass Mr. Cole and to disturb his peace and to destroy his mental or emotional calm. What the evidence includes, but is not limited to, Exhibit 51 which shows harassing text messages from Ms. Little to Mr. Cole in violation of a Temporary Restraining Order on May 3rd, May 15 and May 16 of 2024. Exhibit 52 shows harassing text messages from Ms. Little to Mr. Cole in violation of the Temporary Restraining Order on May 28, 2024. Exhibit 58 shows harassing text messages from Ms. Little to Mr. Cole in violation of the Temporary Restraining Order on January 1, 2025, including statements such as, quote, you're the most disgusting person I know, end quote. Quote, your mom was raped by your family. And it goes on, Y'all did nothing. Why did I expect you to do anything for your seed? Quote, you're a fuckin', you're a whole fuckin' joke, end quote. Exhibit 84 shows harassing texts messages from Ms. Little to Mr. Cole in violation of the Temporary Restraining Order on January 14 and January 17, 2025. The purpose of the Domestic Violence Restraining Act is to prevent domestic violence. See Family Code 6220. The Court is not required to find a likelihood of future abuse to grant or to renew a Domestic Violence Restraining Order. See Perez v. Torres-Hernandez, 1 Cal.App.5th 389 from the year 2016. Even if the likelihood of future abuse was needed, Mr. Cole has established a likelihood of future abuse in this case, especially given the seriousness of Ms. Little's conduct and her repeated violations of the TRO. Mr. Cole credibly testified that he fears future abuse from Ms. Little, especially given that he needs to communicate with her in order to co-parent. The Court does not have to reach the issue of litigation conduct or litigation privilege as there's overwhelming evidence of Ms. Little's abusive behavior outside of any litigation conduct or any conduct that might be protected by litigation privilege. Mr. Cole has proven past abuse, disturbance of his peace by a preponderance of the evidence and the Court grants a restraining order after hearing protecting Mr. Cole from Ms. Little and the five-year restraining order expires on February 7, 2030.

Now it's my turn-- Judge Cadet, "you are a whole fucking joke," both for misrepresenting the evidence and for being an incompetent judge. Ms. Little's home state is Washington. There were no proceedings at the time she moved back to Washington, which therefore could not have disturbed Mr. Cole's peace when the Family Code authorizes a parent to change the child's residence. As for the Talking Parents messages, Mr. Cole repeatedly goaded Ms. Little on Talking Parents and was a willing participant in all of those conversations via Talking Parents. He is now (early 2026) homeless and broke after being kicked out of his mom's house, which means G. is at risk of serious harm because his dad who has sole custody cannot provide housing. I knew that would happen but you couldn't see it because you were blinded by your contempt for my client. Seriously, get off the bench before you cause someone to commit suicide because of your illegal, ridiculous decisions.

Update July 31, 2025: I was just told that Judge Cadet has recused herself from the Cole/Little cases "in the interests of justice." Good riddance! This has recently happened in several other cases with other litigants, and I believe Judge Cadet is soon to be reassigned to a different division of the court that is more suited for her evil heart.

"Judge Cadet makes unjust, horrible decisions based solely on her antipathy and hatred[.]"
"The number of people's lives she is ruining is not acceptable."
"My client is a professional Black man and had the same exact experience with Judge Cadet."
"The family law section needs to do something about this trainwreck."
"Heard through the grapevine you shared a similar experience with Dept. 5. My client filed a judicial complaint. If there is anything you need from me to help make a change, please let me know."
"I can only think of 1 or 2 judges over the past 35 years that have been as horrendous."
"I was there all morning listening to the cases before my client's, which was last. She was totally unnecessarily combative with each and every attorney, made legally wrong decisions, and was also completely lacking in normal judicial temperament, and judgment."
"She comes absolutely unprepared and lacks basic knowledge in Civil Law and Family Law, and her decisions are driven by racial hatred and gender bias instead of the rule of law."
"I cannot wait for Judge Space Cadet to leave the Family Law bench. That day cannot come soon enough, although I do pity the people in the next court she is assigned to."
"I am seriously considering having a protest outside the Hall of Justice demanding she resign. Maybe march the halls inside with signs, etc. Try to get some press coverage. I might be willing to get arrested in order to attract media attention."

"Her pattern and practice is to drain people's resolve by steamrolling them with multiple hearings and trials on the same day just because they are in pro per. She makes up her own rules, ignores the law, and fits the evidence into her own narrative to help the party that she likes. Why does she protect domestic abusers?"
"She hates all women that are educated, successful professionals who stand up for their legal rights, and the rights of their children."
"Judge Cadet’s focus on issuing a $41,602 sanction, rather than evaluating the substance of my motions, demonstrates a deeply biased approach that prioritizes punitive actions over fair adjudication."
"It seemed the judge just didn't care to understand what was going on and wanted to be done with the case as soon as possible."

Note: rather than embarrassing Judge Cadet, the purpose of this page is to protect the public, as there is no other writeup on the internet about this vindictive, malicious, and extremely dangerous judge who does not belong on the bench. I will prove each and every one of my opinions here while being as even-handed as possible.

Here is her LinkedIn. Hard to believe a Stanford and Georgetown grad who spent 20 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney is this lost as a person. I honestly tried to keep an open mind over the last three months, however, the transcripts of my appearances speak for themselves, which show a course of conduct in violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 1983 prohibiting violations of civil rights under color of law. Just wait for the March 26, 2024 transcript, and you'll see that I've now had three separate hearings with Judge Cadet over three months where she destroyed my client for no apparent reason other than prejudice, made numerous legally wrong decisions, and abused her power. I've had enough of this. My client has no remedies except in the court of public opinion, so here you go as a start:

January 2, 2024 - Cole/Little

January 22, 2024 - Cole/Little

March 26, 2024 - Cole/Little - insane!

Transcripts are not normally publishable, however, the entirety of these transcripts are essential to understand my commentary and are relevant to showing that Judge Cadet is a horrible person whom everyone should peremptorily challenge under CCP sec. 170.6. I'm claiming fair use and freedom of speech, consistent with Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct and Civil Code sec. 47 concerning true reporting of proceedings.

Background

I have four cases with Judge Cadet at the moment. The worst and longest-running of these is the above-indicated Cole/Little matter. One other one I settled due to the risk of going to trial with an erratic, malicious judge; another one resulted in a temporary order in my client's favor, principally because Judge Cadet believed the other party was crazy, and the remaining one is just starting and I didn't manage to get my peremptory challenge in on time.

Brittiny Little

I am posting this writeup with my client's permission, though we may have slightly different opinions. In summary, my client is a successful professional woman, who until recently was a Nursing Supervisor at a major, prestigious hospital chain (she resigned due to the unbearable stress of this litigation). My client, who is Black, did nothing to prompt Judge Cadet's malicious treatment of her. I think the result is partly because Judge Cadet (who is also Black) wants to appear extra fair when dealing with Black litigants. It saddens me to even bring race into this, but based on all that I have seen-- and also heard from other attorneys-- that appears to be the truth. Another sad truth is that Judge Cadet has an extremely high opinion of herself and, as an elite Black person, looks down on my client, who is merely a professional Black woman. Regardless of the reasons for her bizarre decisions, Judge Cadet has driven my client to a state of near-suicide over the last several months. Part of this is the denial of visitation with her now one year-old son, whom my client has not seen since December 2023 despite the parties agreeing (denied by Judge Cadet!) that my client could have up to three days per week of visitation. Additionally, Judge Cadet ordered the civil forfeiture of my client's property, specifically the baby-related furniture that my client purchased without the other party's involvement or contribution, and that my client wants to keep because these are the last things she has that remind her of her son. To order that the other party takes furniture he does not own that reminds my client of her son is a civil forfeiture or penalty that is against the law.

This matter began in August 2023 when I was hired to file a Domestic Violence petition against my client's ex, who is unemployed and lives with his parents following the end of the parties' relationship. And when the other party managed to beat us to court and filed his own DV petition, I was hired to defend that one. The issue is that Mr. Cole managed to file his DV petition first, thereby gaining the advantage of a T.R.O., although it was never served on my client. My client splits her time between her home state of Washington and California, and she was in Washington at the time of the DV petition filed by Mr. Cole, and therefore beyond the California court's jurisdiction. She had planned to stay in Washington, but ultimately the California court issued orders under UCCJEA for the minor child's return to California, which occurred in December 2023. This side issue is the subject of a ridiculous claim by the District Attorney that my client is guilty of felony child custody deprivation, which was ultimately granted misdemeanor diversion by agreement, and will be dismissed upon the conditions agreed on by my client. That is a separate issue; the main problems with Judge Cadet are that she (1) makes illegal orders that exceed her jurisdiction, (2) demonstrates severe prejudice against my client, (3) acts either intentionally or extremely recklessly in exhibiting malice against litigants. Please read the transcripts and court papers, and judge this judge for yourself. I am calling upon the attorney community to peremptorily challenge Judge Cadet under 170.6 in all cases until the local court gets the message and she is removed from family law.

Latest updates

The "under construction" page that preceded this writeup received more views than the rest of the Hall of Shame combined. I get occasional calls and emails from other attorneys about Judge Cadet, most of whom are shocked that this person is a judge. I have more to say, but this is a start.

Update June 14, 2024: A lot has occurred in the last ten days since I published this. A number of attorneys and litigants have contacted me with their own horror stories, and I'm putting together a comprehensive update here that will incorporate their comments and stories.

Update August 7, 2024: I've got a big update coming with an additional group of attorneys that reached out to me and that plans to make a coordinated effort directed at removing Judge Cadet from the bench.

Update September 30, 2024: By now, I've gotten at least twenty calls and emails from area attorneys, as well as some litigants. The above quotes are directly from other attorneys, some of whom have called me a hero for doing this. The web page is going to be a centralized repository of information reflecting many people's opinions that Judge Cadet should be doing something else. I've been working on a large update, but I've been distracted by my day job and professional commitments. This is the best I can do here.

Update October 11, 2024: I decided to start putting quotes from litigants on here due to the large number of people who are calling. Wow, they have a lot to say.

Update November 17, 2024: By chance, I ran into Ms. Hartman in court. She had called me a while back, and now she's provided some written materials that show a similar scenario, but primarily financial. Wow, take a look at Ms. Hartman's complaint to the presiding judge! No joke, that is horrible, just like the civil forfeiture ordered in my client's case.

Update January 14, 2025: We concluded trial day one in Cole v. Little. I will do a full writeup once there is a decision, which may or may not be today.

Update February 7, 2025: We finished the trial, and we lost. Coincidentally, I heard from another litigant who had an even worse experience with Judge Cadet than my client. His story is shocking and unbelievable. Big update will be happening in the near future with my thoughts about the trial and resulting decision, and this other guy's case, as well.

Update March 14, 2025: I haven't had time to update this, but I will add an important development: I was recently forced to resign as section chair of the Intellectual Property and Technology section of the local bar association because of this page. They knew the I.P./Technology Section was something I really wanted to do and that I had big plans for, and they pressured me to remove Judge Cadet's page because it allegedly reflects poorly on the bar association to have a section leader expressing these concerns about a judge in the area. Here is my email to the association leadership in response:

Dear Deborah and Alma,

Thank you very much for stopping by this morning to discuss the future of the SMCBA I.P./Technology section in the context of my online Hall of Shame, which features a local judge and several attorneys.

I should note that I also have a Hall of Fame on my website, which features several SMCBA members along with their deserving praise.  The intention is to be even-handed, but it seems like I have not succeeded in that effort when I'm being asked to reconsider part of the Hall of Shame because it reflects poorly on the Bar Association.

I have carefully thought about the options here in terms of the way forward, and I'm not seeing any besides (1) resign from my leadership role, or (2) remove Judge Cadet's Hall of Shame page, because that is obviously the offending page.

My bottom line is that I do not censor my 100% fair and 100% accurate online opinions for any reason, especially when I feel like the information should be public because it is important for litigants to know.  I continue to receive numerous calls and emails supporting the Hall of Shame each month-- not just about Judge Cadet, but about others who appear there.  The page about Judge Cadet has become a repository of information from dissatisfied litigants and attorneys, all of which have only found this resource because it is available online.

Unfortunately, I cannot accommodate your request to remove any portion of the Hall of Shame, and I'm willing to give up my section chair role to prove that I care more about the principle of free speech than the many professional or networking benefits that might accrue from continuing the role.  I also don't want to set a precedent that I'm willing to edit my Hall of Shame on my personal website under the auspices of it reflecting poorly on the Bar Association.

Accordingly, I am tendering my resignation as section chair unless there is a different solution the Board would prefer.  The upcoming event can be canceled considering there are no attendees.

Best,

Andrew Watters

They admitted that they have heard the exact same things from other association members about Judge Cadet. What a joke that a section leader's personal website can be censored at the whims of the association board. I could have done great things with the I.P. and Technology section, and it was something I really wanted to do-- and they knew that. In all fairness, it was a pleasant conversation with Deborah and Alma, but the bottom line is that they and/or the bar association don't want or can't handle the truth. Sad.

Update November 17, 2025: I continue to hear from lawyers and litigants in the community about the horrible things they have suffered in Judge Cadet's court. Why is she still on the bench and in family law? I ask myself that occasionally, and I don't have any good answers. It is going to take someone running against her for her seat in the next judicial election to resolve this once and for all. It won't be me, but I hope someone does it.

Hall of Shame

Home page