Court News

Judge Clement will retire in March 2026, and will stop taking new cases as of January 2, 2026. The Sacramento Division will then have only two bankruptcy judges until the new bankruptcy judges are seated later in 2026. To balance the judicial workload in the district during that time, the court will take the following actions:

Effective January 2, 2026, new cases from Calaveras, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne counties will be assigned to the Fresno division. Each of these cases will remain in the Fresno division for the entire lifespan of the case. Once the district’s new bankruptcy judges are seated in Sacramento, new cases from these counties will once again be assigned to the Sacramento division.

Beginning January 5, 2026, Judge Clement’s open cases that cannot be completed prior to his retirement will be distributed to other bankruptcy judges in the district. Once the district’s new bankruptcy judges are seated, all of Judge Clement’s former cases that remain open will be redistributed to them.