In April 1975, Lucas sat as trial judge in the complex Equity Funding civil litigation, brought after a $3 billion fraud by executives at a life insurance company.
California Supreme Court
Governor George Deukmejian appointed Lucas to the Supreme Court of California in 1984. He replaced Frank K. Richardson, former Governor Ronald Reagan's only remaining appointee on the Court. In November 1986, Lucas was retained by the voters in the election. In the November 1986 California state elections, George Deukmejian was reelected Governor and the electorate ejected Chief Justice Bird and two other liberal justices from the state supreme court. Governor Deukmejian and Lucas had once practiced law together many years earlier in Long Beach. After Bird lost her retention election, Deukmejian announced on November 26, 1986 that he would be appointing then-Associate Justice Lucas, his friend and former law partner, to the position of Chief Justice. On February 19, 1987, Deukmejian then announced the appointment of three new conservative Associate Justices, David Eagleson, John Arguelles, and Marcus Kaufman, thereby creating the first conservative majority on the Court in several decades. In September 1989, Chief Justice Lucas delivered the "State of the Judiciary" address to the State Bar of California annual meeting in San Diego, California.
Judicial philosophy
In contrast to the interpretive tendencies of the Bird court, the decisions of the Lucas court were pro-business, affirmed death penalty sentences imposed by the trial courts, and tended to adhere to the textualist approach, interpreting the law in strict accordance with its written meaning and precedent. An effect of this tendency was that in matters of criminal law, the Lucas court's interpretation of the law favored the state government more than that of the Bird court. The Lucas court also reversed several pro-plaintiff landmark decisions of the Bird court in the context of tort law and insurance law. In 1988, Lucas implemented a practice that the justices produce opinions within 90 days of holding oral arguments. On October 1, 1995, he announced he would retire in May 1996 to spend more time with his family.
Post judicial service
After retiring from the Court, Lucas went back into private practice and became an arbitrator for JAMS in Los Angeles.
On June 23, 1956, Lucas married Donna J. Fisher in Los Angeles.
Photos and video
and Thomas Reavley, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, presiding at Pepperdine University's 11th annual moot court competition, 1985. UCLA Libraries.
