By Greg Mitchell

William Rylaarsdam spent more than two decades in private practice litigating civil cases, and it shows. Most of his published opinions have come in civil disputes, while two of the eight criminal rulings he issued have been depublished by the California Supreme Court, a sign he is still feeling his way in that area despite 10 years as a superior court judge.

Perhaps his most notable opinion was 1997's Creason v. State of California, 55 Cal.App.4th 1197. Rylaarsdam figured that because the state health department tests newborns for certain birth defects, it could be held liable when a substandard testing procedure failed to disclose such a condition. But he was quickly reversed by a unanimous California Supreme Court.

A native of the Netherlands, Rylaarsdam came to California when he was 16 years old. He is active in the area of judicial ethics, and contributes time to the California Judges Association's ethics panel.