Marcus Kaufman

Marcus Maurice Kaufman (June 19, 1929 – March 26, 2003) served as the 103rd justice on the Supreme Court of California from March 18, 1987, until his retirement on January 31, 1990. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Kaufman served for 17 years as an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Second Division. Early life Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Kaufman moved with his family to Los Angeles, California, at a young age. He grew up in the Hollywood area, and developed an interest in law while in high school. He would later recall taking the bus to the L.A. Civic Center to watch federal court proceedings. After earning his bachelor's degree at UCLA, he served in the Korean War as an Army lieutenant. Law career After returning home, Kaufman attended USC Law School where he was editor of the Southern California Law Review, and in 1956 graduated first in his class with Order of the Coif honors. He graduated in 1956 and from 1956 to 1957 served as a law clerk to then Associate Justice Roger J. Traynor. Kaufman began his career clerking in the same court to which he would eventually return as Justice. After a year of clerking, Kaufman joined the faculty of the University of Southern California Law Center. Years later, he had a very distinguished career in private practice in San Bernardino. Judicial career In 1970, Governor Ronald Reagan appointed Kaufman as an associate justice of the Court of Appeal of California's Fourth Appellate District, Division Two. His opinion in Fletcher v. Western National Life Ins. Co. in 1970, while on the Fourth District Court of Appeal is regarded as an insightful view of what was to come from the California Supreme Court in Gruenberg v. Aetna Ins. Co. in 1973 and then Silberg v. California Life Ins. Co., in 1974, when the court embraced the essential concepts of insurance bad faith as a tort remedy in California.