Frank Henry Kerrigan
Frank Henry Kerrigan was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He also served for nearly 30 years as a California state court judge, and was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from January 8, 1923, to February 11, 1924.
Education and career
Kerrigan was born in Contra Costa County, California, to Henry Kerrigan and Elizabeth Donlin, and attended the local schools. Kerrigan then studied at University of California, Hastings College of the Law and read law to enter the bar in 1889. From 1890 to 1900, Kerrigan was in private practice in San Francisco, California. During this time, from 1894 to 1900, he was also a justice of the peace in San Francisco, and in January 1896 was made presiding justice of the court. When he resigned from the city court, Governor Henry Gage named Percy V. Long as a replacement.State judicial service
Kerrigan was elected a judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court from 1900 to 1906. In November 1900, he won election to a four-year unexpired term, at the same time future Supreme Court judges William P. Lawlor and M. C. Sloss won full terms on the Superior Court. In 1904, Kerrigan was re-elected to a new term on the trial bench. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, a test case was brought before Judge Kerrigan to establish land title since so many legal records were destroyed. Governor George Pardee appointed John A. Hosmer to Kerrigan's Superior Court seat when he went to the state appellate court.In November 1906, Kerrigan was nominated on the Republican Party ticket and elected as an associate justice of the newly created California District Court of Appeals, First District. He held this seat from January 8, 1907 to January 7, 1923. The three judges elected in 1906 drew straws to determine length of term, and Kerrigan drew an eight-year term. In May 1907, Kerrigan was nearly run over by an automobile at the corner of Sutter and Gough Streets. In 1914, he ran successfully for re-election. In April 1920, he temporarily sat on the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy of Justice Lucien Shaw. At that time, Kerrigan sought the appointment to the open seat of Justice Henry A. Melvin, who died during his term. But Governor William Stephens named William A. Sloane to the position instead. Again, in November 1921, Kerrigan was a strong contender for appointment to the high court when Frank M. Angellotti retired, but he was not picked.
In November 1922, Kerrigan won election as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, serving from January 8, 1923, to February 11, 1924. In the election, he and Emmett Seawell replaced incumbent justices William Sloane and Charles A. Shurtleff.