They asked the Judicial Council to select a Judge and it assigned Erick Larsch from outside the Los Angeles court to decide this matter.  That means Judge Larsch's impartiality and his decision are above reproach.  Judge Larsch's ruling in turn means Judge Ouderkirk's actions and decisions will also be above reproach.  The decision addresses any concern that Judge Ouderkirk cannot be impartial and is predisposed to being sympathetic towards them because they are big, well-paying repeat clients of his.  That was the central issue in Bley's Verified Statement and she used the Judge's repeat relationship with Spiegel and Kiley as proxy.

Bley made sure to clear Judge Ouderkirk of any deliberate wrongdoing and assigned blame for any negligence to his agent.  Spiegel noted in his last ex parte request that "The only impact of the pending request to disqualify Judge Ouderkirk is that it will be necessary to reschedule dates that are currently being lost pending the ruling on the disqualification issue."

The decision was only released Nov. 16 which is also when the Sept. 10 General Order allows hearings exceeding five days to proceed.  Strict Covid restrictions are being reimposed in most of California including Los Angeles County and it is possible, if not highly likely, that there is a new General Order covering limits on hearings.  If their evidentiary hearing is permitted to proceed, "the earliest a hearing can commence would be after the opportunity for appellate writ review, i.e., 10 days after written notice of such an order."  Since Bley seems determined to be very thorough, she will probably ask for such a review if she can find a reason for it.  The earliest their hearing can start is 10 days after they received Judge Larsch's order or some time after Thanksgiving.  Covid restrictions may continue to make any delay resulting from Judge Oudekirk's case inconsequential.