Court Cuts Disruptive for Local Legal System, Lawyers

As bad as conditions are in the state Superior Court system beset by staffing cuts, furlough days and a growing budget deficit, legal professionals anticipate the situation can get worse. Already this year, the Los Angeles Superior Court laid off more than 300 employees and another 500 positions could be cut in September if additional money is not found. Attorneys in the San Fernando Valley handling civil cases already face delays and with less courtroom staff the delays will only increase, requiring changes in how attorneys conduct their business. The long shot solution is for Los Angeles and a few other struggling counties to tap into a fund set aside for building new courthouses and computer system and use it instead for courthouse operations and prevent the next round of layoffs. The absence of an agreement on how to use that money creates a noticeable pessimism among some Valley area attorneys. “I do not know how much the system can take without cracking,” said Leonard Comden, a name attorney with Wasserman, Comden, Casselman & Esensten in Tarzana. The Los Angeles court’s problems stem from having 79 percent of its nearly $800 million budget coming from the state. But with less revenue coming in that leads to less money for financing trial court operations. A $79 million deficit for the 2009-2010 fiscal year is expected to grow to $120 million for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Business effects The legal services industry, however, isn’t confined to what happens inside a courthouse. A study on court closures for the superior court by consulting firm Micronomics looked at the economic contributions of firms providing expert advice to law firms, messenger companies, office rental enterprises, even restaurants and office building owners. Courtroom closures through 2013 would result in a loss of $12.9 billion in economic activity as more than 69,000 jobs would be eliminated, the study concluded. Mid-week closures of all county courthouses – the most recent on May 19 with the next on June 16 – is unprecedented in California and flies in the face of the ideal of the U.S. judicial system of access to a courtroom and judge. Not even the Great Depression required such an action. “It is a barometer for how bad the situation is,” said Judge Richard Kirschner, supervising judge of the Northwest District in Van Nuys. With 38 courtrooms handling civil and criminal cases, the Van Nuys courthouse is the center of legal matters in the Valley. Other regional courthouses are in the City of San Fernando, Chatsworth, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley. The courthouse is doing all it can to operate efficiently but it is difficult with fewer people, many working behind the scenes and not seen by the public, Kirschner said. Civil cases in particular face the delays brought on by the staffing cuts. Criminal cases, on the other hand, have statutory requirements of when they must go to trial although typically that time gets extended by the defense to better prepare their case. Full custody evaluations are no longer available in family law court and scheduling hearings had been taking between 30 days to 45 days but now take up to 70 days, said attorney Peter Walzer, of Walzer & Melcher in Woodland Hills. The budget crisis also leaves up in the air the recommendations of the Elkins Family Law Task Force to reform the family law process. Walzer served on the task force. “Where the money will come from we don’t know,” Walzer said. “Everyone is looking at the legislature to come up with the money. The legislature says there is no money because of slowdown.” Disruptions to firm As a law firm specializing in litigation, half of the attorneys with Wasserman, Comden can be in court on any given day. Furlough days, such as on May 19, prove disruptive especially when it means losing a day at trial, Comden said. The biggest effect the furlough days have had on John Genga is to make him pay more attention to filing deadlines and to account for days when court was not in session. The delays to civil cases harkens back to what Kirschner called the bad old days prior to reforms that brought in the fast track rules. Prior to the rules, civil cases could take up to five years to reach trial; afterward that time was reduced to 16 months. If the September layoffs do happen, in a short time the courts would have lost nearly one-third of its workforce. The remaining staff would end up focusing more on criminal cases because of the statutory guidelines, which will further slow down the progress of civil cases. “If you take away a third we must take the remaining two-thirds and use them as wisely as we can,” said Judge Robert Schuit, the supervising judge of the North Valley District. $5 billion awaits The biggest help the court system can get is the $5 billion set aside in 2008 to build new courthouses and install a new computer system. Presiding Judge Charles W. “Tim” McCoy Jr. has stated the money would be better spend keeping existing courtrooms open rather than building new ones. The Administrative Office of the Courts has reviewed McCoy’s request to divert the money but has not made a decision. The matter would eventually land in the laps of state lawmakers. Other options do exist to settle cases that don’t require a courtroom, arbitration for instance. The San Fernando Valley Bar Association is looking at the use of private judges – an attorney agreed to by both sides. The case would be handled just as it would in Superior Court and a decision can be challenged in appellate court, said David Gurnick, head of the bar association’s litigation section. “We are going to ask members to volunteer for this to do a little contribution to easing the court workload and get cases solved,” Gurnick said.