You asked about senior judges and trial referees.

SUMMARY

Judges who retire before reaching age 70 automatically become senior judges. A senior judge has all the powers of the court to which he is designated and assigned. Senior judge status ceases when a judge reaches age 70, the mandatory retirement age for judges. If a senior judge’s eight year term expires before he reaches age 70, he can be re-nominated as a senior judge.

Any judge or senior judge, who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 automatically becomes a state referee. He is eligible for reappointment as a state referee for the remainder of his life. A state referee has the power of a judge of the Superior Court on matters referred to him from the Superior Court.

The chief justice appoints judge trial referees from among the state referees. Judge trial referees may handle many matters that state referees may not handle. For example, the Superior Court may refer any criminal case, other than a criminal jury trial, to a judge trial referee assigned to a geographical area criminal court session.

Senior judges, state referees, and judge trial referees earn a per diem of $ 211 in addition to their pensions.

SENIOR JUDGES

Any judge who retires from full-time active service, who has not attained the age of seventy and who is an elector and a Connecticut resident, automatically becomes a senior judge of the court of which he is a member during the remainder of the term of office for which he was appointed. He is eligible for reappointment as a senior judge in the manner prescribed by law for the appointment of a judge of the court of which he is a member (CGS § 51-50i).

A senior judge has all the powers of a judge of the court to which he is designated and assigned (CGS § 51-50d).

Any senior judge of the Supreme Court may be designated and assigned by the chief justice or the chief court administrator to perform such judicial duties in the Supreme Court, or by the chief court administrator to perform such judicial duties in the Superior Court, as the senior judge is willing to undertake. Any senior judge of the Appellate Court may be designated by the chief judge of the Appellate Court or the chief court administrator to perform such judicial duties in the Appellate Court, or by the chief court administrator to perform such judicial duties in the Superior Court, as the senior judge is willing to undertake (CGS § 51-50c).

Any senior judge of the Superior Court may be designated and assigned by the chief court administrator to perform such judicial duties in the Superior Court as the senior judge is willing to undertake (CGS § 51-50c).

The chief court administrator may designate, assign, or summon any senior judge, in any matter in which the chief court administrator may designate, assign, or summon a judge or judges, to sit or act in any judicial capacity (CGS § 51-50c).

A senior judge may not perform judicial duties unless he is so designated and assigned (CGS § 51-50c).

Each senior judge who ceases to hold office as a senior judge because of having reached the age of 70 and who is an elector and state resident automatically becomes a state referee for the remainder of his term. He is eligible for appointment as a state referee during the remainder of his life in the manner prescribed by law for the appointment of a judge of the court of which he is a member (CGS § 51-50l).

STATE REFEREES

Our state constitution establishes a mandatory retirement age of 70 for judges. But our constitution specifies that the chief justice or judge of the Supreme Court, or the Superior Court, who has attained the age of 70 and has become a state referee may exercise, as prescribed by law, the powers of the superior court on matters referred to him as a state referee (Article Eight of the Amendments of the Connecticut Constitution).

Each judge of the Supreme Court, Appellate Court, or Superior Court who ceases to hold office because of retirement, and who is an elector and a state resident automatically becomes a state referee for the remainder of his term of office as a judge. He is eligible for re-appointment as a state referee during the remainder of his life in the manner prescribed by law for the appointment of a judge of the court of which he is a member (CGS § 52-434).

A retired chief justice or judge of the Supreme Court, judge of the Appellate Court, or judge of the Superior Court acting as a state referee after attaining the age of 70, has the power of a judge of the Superior Court on matters referred to him from the Superior Court (CGS § 51-50f).

A chief justice or a judge of the Supreme Court or Appellate Court, who has ceased to hold office as justice or judge because of having retired and who has become a state referee, may be designated by the Supreme Court’s chief justice to be eligible to be assigned by the chief judge of the Appellate Court to perform whatever duties of the office of judge of the Appellate Court as the chief judge may request.

The chief judge may assign no more than one state referee to sit on any one panel. No such designation may be for a term of more than one year. In performing the duties assigned, a retired chief justice or retired judge of the Supreme Court or Appellate Court may exercise the same powers and jurisdiction as does a judge of the Superior Court who is qualified to serve as a judge on the Appellate Court (CGS § 52-434c).

JUDGE TRIAL REFEREES

The chief justice may designate, from among the state referees, judge trial referees to whom criminal and civil cases and juvenile matters may be referred. Criminal cases and civil cases of an adversary nature may be referred only to state referees who are designated as judge trial referees, and proceedings resulting from a demand for a trial de novo from an arbitrator’s decision may be referred only to judge trial referees who are specifically designated to hear such proceedings. Juvenile matters may be referred only to judge trial referees who are specifically designated to hear juvenile cases (CGS § 52-434(a)).

No designation as a judge trial referee may be for a term of more than one year.

Almost all state referees are designated as judge trial referees. According to Deborah Fuller of the Judicial Department, currently, only six state referees are not desiganted as judge trial referees.

Civil Cases

The Superior Court may refer any civil, nonjury case or, with the written consent of the parties or their attorneys, any civil jury case pending before the court in which the issues have been closed to a judge trial referee who may exercise the powers of the Superior Court in respect to trial, judgment, and appeal in the case. Any proceeding resulting from a demand for a trial de novo in a case decided by an arbitrator may be referred without the consent of the parties to a judge trial referee who has been specifically designated to hear such proceedings (CGS § 52-434(a)).

Criminal Cases

The Superior Court may, with the consent of the parties or their attorneys, refer any criminal case to a judge trial referee who may exercise the powers of the Superior Court in respect to trial, judgment, sentencing, and appeal in the case. The Superior Court may, without the consent of the parties or their attorneys, (a) refer any criminal case, other than a criminal jury trial, to a judge trial referee assigned to a geographical area criminal court session, and (b) refer any criminal case,

other than a class A or B felony or capital felony, to a judge trial referee to preside over the jury selection process and any voir dire examination conducted in such case, unless good cause is shown not to refer (CGS § 52-434(a)).

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