Council bosses say they are concerned that a coroner based in Fulham is not fulfilling his duty by holding inquests in secret late at night.
Lawyers acting on behalf of a number of London councils have told a High Court judge that Senior Coroner for west London Chinyere Inyama has held "numerous" inquest hearings outside of office hours and should be investigated.
At a High Court hearing in London last Thursday (August 4) they told Mr Justice Soole that between April and December 2015 Mr Inyama had staged around 80 hearings at times ranging from 6.15pm to 11.52pm.
Barrister Deok Joo Rhee. who led the legal team, said there were "serious concerns" that the coroner had acted in "persistent breach" of rules governing the staging of inquests.
Judge refuses to make investigation order
Miss Rhee said council bosses thought that the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) - which handles complaints about the conduct of judicial office holders - should investigate.
However, the JCIO's lawyers disagreed, saying the councils' complaint was not about Mr Inyama's personal conduct and they suggested that a High Court judge could be asked to analyse the councils' concerns.
Mr Justice Soole refused to make an order which would force the JCIO to investigate and instead suggested that the councils would need to find another way of triggering an investigation.
Mr Inyama was not at the hearing - although lawyers told Mr Justice Soole that he was aware of the councils' concerns.
The coroner was previously found guilty of misconduct after he left documents on a train relating to the case of Alice Gross, who was killed in 2014.
