Rule 3.923.Selection and qualification of referee

Rule 3.923 is the Chapter 2 twin of rule 3.903, applying the identical selection standard to a reference the court orders rather than one the parties chose. The court still appoints the referee the way Code of Civil Procedure section 640 provides, so the fact that the reference began by court order rather than by agreement does not loosen the selection process the Legislature set out.

The bar-membership floor carries over unchanged as well. If the referee is a former California judicial officer, that person has to be an active or inactive member of the State Bar. A litigant facing a section 639 reference they may not have wanted still gets the same assurance a stipulating party gets: whoever the court appoints went through section 640's process, and any retired judge among the candidates remains connected to the bar's professional structure.