Michelle Tong

In most Cal counties, new judges take the RO calendar for a short period and then move up. This judge lingers in a department any law school graduate could master because the law is simple, the pro per litigants are repetitive, and the procedures simple. Don't know why.

Incredibly biased from my own personal experience and seemingly [redacted] from researching her.

Michelle Tong is biased against victims. Both hearings I had with her in small claims court, she started off by requesting donations to her campaign and asking people to vote for her. She refused to disclose a troubling conflict of interest to me when she was assigned to my case, in that she was best friends with the public defender representing my ex- who at the time of both my hearings, was in SF county jail awaiting trial for his repeated physical abuse of me, which nearly resulted in my death. This personal relationship was never disclosed to me, nor was I given the opportunity to request a new judge for my hearing. My ex's public defender and her staff were present via Zoom for both hearings (despite neither party being allowed legal representation for small claims court), and the judge was incredibly rude to me for no reason in both hearings. I suffered multiple broken bones, requiring surgery to fix my eye socket, needed two sets of stitches in my face, had a black eye, and bruising all over my body, and that was just from the last time my ex abused me. My ex and I lived and worked together, so after his arrest I went from being in a two income household to a one income household, having the same expenses, except I was suffering from extreme PTSD, having to go to therapy three times a week, in addition to the DAs office and court frequently. I was not in a good place, and only went to small claims court to request *some* (half) of the money my ex owed me from all the times he borrowed money from me and promised to pay me back. I couldn't believe the way I was being treated by a judge after enduring something so horrific. She ultimately made a ruling and only required him to pay back one of the amounts he owed me- only 7.14% of what I requested (he owed me close to $15,000; I took him to small claims court for $6,997, and she ordered him to pay $500). In her ruling, she wrote on paper that both parties "agreed to settle," which was absolutely untrue. I did not agree to her ruling, I did not understand her ruling, nor did I sign anything. When I asked for her to clarify her decision, she laughed in my face and said "yea, I don't have to do that" then turned away from me. Completely unprofessional, incompetent, and void of any consideration or compassion. Tong is a danger to our society. Someone like her does not deserve to be in a position of power. Just look up her name- see how many other victims have been dismissed, denied restraining orders. See how she was promoted to SF criminal courts but was requested to be dismissed from each case she was assigned to because of how notoriously problematic she is; every prosecutor knows she is incapable of being a fair judge in a case where there are victims. So she was sent back to civil court. She shouldn't be there either.

Judge Tong was outwardly cruel to victims and clearly continued acting as a defense attorney for the alleged abusers. In a case I observed where there were photos of injuries, police reports, medical evidence of disclosures and injuries (including strangulation), and a party who had been incarcerated for murder, Judge Tong *begrudgingly* granted a brief RO and said "it just seems like you two need a cooling off period" (!). She also then granted unsupervised visitation of the baby. Her rulings were so egregious that she was booted early from her family law rotation.

Michelle Tong is dangerous,she jeopardizing the safety of the community

Although intellectual competent, Judge Tong comes across as argumentative and unprofessional. I sat through multiple hearings before my matter was called. She was short tempered and combative with nearly every attorney. She was also disorganized and could not keep track of her prior rulings. In my case she granted the default judgment but unreasonably limited contractual fees and costs. She seemed to take a sort of sadistic pleasure in her judicial power over the parties that causes me concern about her overall judicial temperament.

I have practiced for 20 years in multiple counties and I can honestly say Judge Tong is one of the worst judges I have ever encountered. She does not read filings, does not know the law, has poor judicial temperament, and clearly lets her emotion guide her rulings. She needs to go back to criminal defense. She is a disaster.

Worst judge I've ever seen. Told 80-year-old woman she could be killed for lawfully entering her home (and was ok with it). 14 hours on a restraining order renewal. Video of respondent violating restraining order. Called it legal. Kept interrupting direct of witnesses. Obnoxious demeanor. Refused to recuse despite having worked with respondent attorneys.

Instead of continuing a case, judge Tong said that it was time to go to lunch and closed the case ruling against me and lying.

Judge Michelle Tong handled one of my Small Claims cases. She lied on her ruling, she shouted at me, twice, when I tried to defend myself, telling me to "be quiet". Then, when dismissing me from the court, I said she had not giving me a chance to prove my evidence, she said, "it is lunch time". The worse thing is, SHE LIED, said that I did not have proof or evidence, when she was holding the evidence in her hands. I strongly believe that she is biased. I filed a complaint against her with the Commission On Judicial Performance; however, it is so difficult to prove a case especially when there is no court reporter in Small Claims court

1) Poor quality of work. Multiple mistakes in every work product produced by her - temporary rulings as well as final rulings. 2) Prejudiced and a bully against plaintiffs who do not have counsel 3) A disgrace to professional women. It is clear that she does not read the material 4) Hyprocrite - she changed her mind and asked to rewrite an FOAH when it was clear in the transcripts what she orginally ordered. 5) Lazy. Poor work product. Does not understand the law and is very defensive when challenged. 6) Prejudiced and sides with favorite lawyers 7) An example of someone that should never ever have been allowed to serve on a bench and especially not a family law judge.

I am so glad that Michelle Tong was moved out of family court into civil court. Something is seriously wrong with her. I was attempting to get a domestic violence restraining order against my abuser, who sexually and emotionally abused me. I provided significant amounts of evidence but for some reason in court Michelle Tong accused me of perjury and sided with my abuser. Then after finding this page and reading several Reddit posts about her, I learned she was a public defender for 15 years and that explains why she acted as a defense attorney in court. [Redacted by Ed.] She dismissed my case and I refiled (she was reassigned that week so I was assigned a different judge thank the universe) and to my surprise, my restraining order was granted. Michelle Tong only further traumatizes victims oh unless you're Asian. I noticed she granted every Asian petitioner their restraining orders, a mother showed up to court instead of the son, who was the defendant, which should've automatically granted the petitioner the restraining order but because the mom was asian she rescheduled the hearing. [Redacted by Ed.] Hopefully, she burns out and retires. Never voting a public defender in the future. [Redacted by Ed.] . Please do not take these reviews as a grain of salt, these other reviews are the truth, she is rude to litigants and attorneys as well.

The worst judge I have ever known.

The company managing my apartment failed to return my deposit within the required 30 days, as stated by law, despite the fact that I had provided my forwarding address in my notice to vacate. Before my hearing began, I overheard the representatives of the management company reviewing the docket and exclaim, "Oh yes! Sweet," only to notice I was sitting there. It seemed they were either familiar with Judge Tong from past experiences or aware of her reputation. When court came into session, Judge Tong immediately mentioned her lack of tenure (about 9 months) and, in a defensive and almost hostile tone, shared her background and recited her résumé. I found this completely unnecessary, odd, and a waste of time. I had provided written evidence to support my case, but Judge Tong never reviewed it. I wasn’t allowed to speak or present my claim. Instead, after briefly glancing at the claim, Judge Tong began guiding the defendant through their rebuttal, asking leading questions that were clearly biased in favor of their defense. She even allowed them to commit perjury. For example, when asked why the payment wasn’t remitted, the defense claimed I hadn’t provided a forwarding address. I attempted to explain that my address was included in my notice to vacate and was right there in the printed copy on Judge Tong’s desk. However, before I could finish, Judge Tong yelled at me, saying it wasn’t my time to speak, and that I could only speak when addressed by the court. That never happened. I was not allowed to challenge any of their false statements. In the end, I did receive a judgment in my favor, but the compensation was significantly less than the typical amount. As she banged her gavel to close the case, I respectfully raised my hand and asked if I could inquire about something. She asked what it was, and I questioned whether I was eligible for reimbursement of my court fees since I had won the case. Judge Tong responded with, "Oh yeah…your fees were…$X, so add that

Wholly lacking in judicial demeanor. Rude, impatient and ignorant. Train wreck. Ignores the evidence and goes her own way ... the wrong way. Stay away if possible.

received an unfair small claims decision from Judge Tong during the height of COVID-19. In San Francisco, it seems you can hire a contractor for substantial remodeling work, approve all the work, then demand the contractor leave just days from 100% completion without making final payment. Then, you can sue the contractor for an absurd amount, just under $10,000, needed to pay another contractor to finish the project. This happened to me. Due to the pandemic, my court case was scheduled for the first day the courts reopened months later, on March 21. I misread the court time, assuming “9” meant 9 am, but it was actually 9 pm. After working all day, I returned to court in the evening. Everything was delayed, the waiting area was packed with some unmasked people, and the clerk was rude. I waited for hours, exhausted, and at around 11 pm, I struggled to stay awake. The clerk snapped at me to wake up, but there was still no timeframe for entering the courtroom. Needing to use the bathroom, I found a bench in another hallway and fell asleep. I missed my midnight court call, and the other party was awarded $10,000. I attempted to appeal, but was told an appeal only reexamines submitted evidence. Since I wasn’t present for the original hearing (despite being checked in), I couldn’t submit new evidence or get a new court date. When I finally appeared before Judge Tong, she denied my exemption requests every time the other party drained my Wells Fargo account to zero balance. Judge Tong was rude, dismissive, and generally hostile. I now realize how stacked the deck was against me and regret not seeking representation, though everyone said, “there are no lawyers in small claims court!” When the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) reopened after COVID-19, they issued my contractor’s license from my previously submitted application. It was promptly revoked because I now owed $12,000 with interest on this civil judgment. I also felt prejudice from Judge Tong during

Even I was surprised by how poorly Judge Tong treated my ex-wife. She took everything I asserted as the absolute truth and treated my ex like a pathological liar. It was very strange, almost surreal to see such sexist behavior. BTW - if Judge Tong ever reads this - thank you, but my ex was actually telling the truth and had a lot of evidence that you didn't seem to actually read. You acted like my personal defense lawyer, much appreciated!!

She is below mediocre, she's abysmal. She did not read the numerous factual and legal documentation I provided to show cause and need to received substantial child and spousal support for myself as 100% caregiver our son who is Severely autistic, non-verbal and prone to request seizures. Despite the Highly regarded, multi-x published expert on autism, our Pediatric Neurologist who is an assistant professor a UCSF Marc Benioff hospital, wrote her prognosis on our son's condition + school IEP + various autistic related therapy reports -- she ignored all of it and instead relied on my spouse's court filing of his income which is untrue and he didn't file any back-up documentation. He just wrote a dollar $ without substantial evidence. She just gave power to my soon to be ex-husband despite his own admission that he fathered children outside of our marriage and supporting $12k per month + he is supporting his girlfriends with brand new expensive SUV and paying off an ex-girlfriend's $75k rent along and finally admitting that he tendered over one of his illegitimate child from another woman to me for 100% care and only offering $1k per month for her upkeep. This child who was conceived during our marriage, landed on my front door when she was 9 yrs. old. I took her in out of the goodness of my heart because she was technically an orphan after her biological mother suffered psychotic breakdown and unable to care for her and her biological father (my husband) did not know what to do with her. I had to use my own money to support this poor child who is now 14 yrs. old. I have been taking care of her for 4.5 yrs. without any financial support from my husband and her biological father. This judge is awful and a disgrace to working mothers fighting for their children. She need to not be involved in anything pertaining to family law. She should be sent to preside on cases in the small claims court, where small matters are decided. Anything pertaining to a disabled chi

Unprofessional and can be very degrading to people who come in front of her. I have seen her act in an unprofessional manner on multiple occasions with different parties. Does not do her work thoroughly. That is the major issue. She is defensive as she still does not know what she is doing so she becomes aggressive, especially with unrepresentated parties. She is a bully - full stop. She does not read the material. I have found multiple errors in her work. Writing and conveying opinions and articulating the law is her job and her work product is sloppy from what I have seen and she renegs on what she has said in previous hearings. A disappointment.

Judge Tong is not qualified to be a family court judge. She did not know what occupational therapy was, was not familiar with IEPs, minimum standards for parenting (she does not have kids). She either does not know or choose to follow the law relevant to my case. Multiple hearings and still no testimony taken. Submitting evidence to support my statements seems to have been perceived as my being a difficult co-parent, while giving my ex complete benefit of the doubt with zero evidence to support his statements which grossly misrepresent his parenting. Truly devastating to have my children's future rest in her hands. She has a generally rude temperament, can be snarky, and seems to enjoy "winging it" in terms of process in the courtroom, which has cost me a fortune as our preparations for court don't end up matching how she uses the time in court. The attorneys generally feel a need to defer to her as the judge, but that really only makes sense when a judge is following the law, being thoughtful etc.