A Sonoma County family law judge said he blacked out in the midst of a hearing Monday morning when he tried to suppress feelings of nausea.

Jim Bertoli was taken to Sutter Medical Center after the 9:20 a.m. incident and cleared by a doctor. He was back at work Monday afternoon.

“I’m fine,” said Bertoli, 51, in a phone call from his office. “Fit as a fiddle, ready for love, all that stuff.”

Bertoli was calling cases as usual Monday morning when he was struck by a wave of nausea.  It was so strong he had to ask lawyers to repeat what they were saying, he said.

He regrouped, he said, but it hit again.

“The next thing I know I’m trying to type on my laptop with my forehead,” Bertoli said.

Bertoli fainted. When he regained consciousness moments later his bailiff was standing near him calling for help on a radio.

Bertoli shrugged off medical attention but was taken to the hospital as a precaution. He said doctors did blood work and “put me up on the rack” before determining he suffered flu-like symptoms.

“I just had some nausea,” Bertoli said. “I tried to fight my way through it.”