As a result of the court’s recent consolidation plan, they have provided information necessary to maintain a proper work flow with the court.  Of course, as always, anything can change at the drop of a hat!

Chart

A coalition of legal aid groups is suing the Los Angeles County Superior Court and the state for allegedly denying minority and disabled residents access to justice to by shutting down courthouses.

READ MORE

United States District Court ? Northern District of California

To All Attorneys and E-Filers:

A new process for ordering transcripts will go into effect Monday, March 18.

The key features of the new process are:

1. New fillable forms (available for preview/download now).  All previous versions should be discarded.

2. E-filing of all transcript orders will be mandatory, EXCEPT under-seal cases/proceedings and CJA cases. Pro se parties who do not have ECF accounts are also exempt.

3. Emailed transcript orders will no longer be accepted by court reporters beginning March 18.

More information is available on the Court’s Transcripts/Court Reporters web page: http://cand.uscourts.gov/transcripts.

The two new e-filing events for ordering transcripts will be:

Transcript Order
Transcript Order ? Daily Trial

E-filing instructions for both new events are available here: http://cand.uscourts.gov/ECF/OrderTranscript.

The new events will be added to CM/ECF after the close of business on March 15 and the existing forms and transcript ordering instructions will be removed from the site before the Court opens on March 18.

If you find that you need assistance with these new processes, please contact the court reporter supervisor for the division where your case is pending.

In an effort to “find” $85 million in permanent budget solutions:

The Court will, over the next few months, and with notice to affected parties, consolidate in the following ways:

• The Court will close 8 courthouses completely (Beacon Street, Huntington Park, Kenyon Juvenile, Malibu, Pomona North, San Pedro, West Los Angeles; Whittier) and remove most court work from 2 locations (Beverly Hills, Catalina);

• Criminal and traffic workload presently located in the 8 courthouses to be closed will be moved to nearby courthouses;

• Juvenile cases now heard at Kenyon Juvenile Justice Center will be moved to other courthouses;

• Small claims cases heard only at courthouses in: Alhambra, Downey, Inglewood, Lancaster, Van Nuys and downtown Los Angeles (Mosk);

• Unlawful detainer (landlord-tenant) cases heard only in: Lancaster, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles (Mosk);

• Limited civil collections-related cases heard only in: Chatsworth and Norwalk;

• Other limited civil cases heard only in downtown Los Angeles (Mosk);

• Personal injury-related cases heard only in downtown Los Angeles (Mosk);

• Probate cases will be heard in Lancaster and downtown Los Angeles (Mosk), except for exceptional cases;

• Many general civil cases going to trial may be moved to dedicated trial courts located around the county;

In addition, the Court plans to eliminate its alternative dispute resolution center, further reduce the use of court-employed court reporters, and lay off all juvenile Referees.

All of these consolidations are necessitated by a planned reduction in the Court’s workforce by 511 positions bringing the total workforce reduction over the last four years to over 24 percent. “Justice requires a court. But what we once counted on – that courts would be open, available and ready to dispense prompt justice – no longer exists in California,” said Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye in her annual State of the Judiciary speech. Plans such as those outlined above are being implemented across the state of California. San Bernardino is closing courthouses that will require litigants to travel more than 130 miles to the nearest courthouse; Fresno Superior Court has closed all courthouses outside the city of Fresno.

“The day of reckoning has arrived for the Los Angeles County justice system,” said Wesley. “This is our last-ditch effort to save access to justice in Los Angeles County. The impacts of years of draconian cuts in state court funding can no longer be delayed. We are now forced to bring our court operations into line with the resources provided by the Governor and legislature. The result will be reduced services, long lines and travel distances that may well deter people from seeking and getting the justice they deserve. It is a sad irony that, as our economy is turning the corner, our justice system is going downhill.”

Read the New Release in its entirety here.

Superior Court to Eliminate Over 500 Positions in ‘Consolidation’

Court Announces New Rules for Civil Filings to Take Effect March 18, Says Plan Will Save $56 Million

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer for Metropolitan News-Enterprise

The Los Angeles Superior Court will be forced to eliminate 511 positions in order to implement the budget-cutting “Consolidation Plan” it announced in November, Presiding Judge David Wesley said Friday.

Wesley, who was not available for comment on the plan, said in an email to judicial officers and staff that the plan, which involves closing courthouses and shifting some types of cases from one facility to another, will save the court $56 million.

“Those savings come at a very high price,” Wesley wrote. “There will be fewer courthouses in the system and court users will have to travel further and wait longer to have their matters resolved.”

‘Until the Very Last Moment’

While the court is going to have to cut 511 positions, the number of employees who will actually lose their jobs is smaller, he explained, due to “existing vacancies, cuts made to non-staff spending, and other mitigation.” He promised that the court will work “[u]ntil the very last moment” to reduce the number of layoffs, but said the massive cuts in funding by the Legislature have tied the court’s hands.

The court Friday also released the details of its previously announced plans to shift large numbers of civil cases to “hub” courthouses. All limited jurisdiction, personal injury, small claims, and unlawful detainer cases will be subject to new filing rules effective two weeks from today, as follows:

•Small claims cases will be filed at six hubs—Alhambra, the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown, the Michael D. Antonovich Courthouse in Lancaster, Downey, Inglewood, and the Van Nuys East Courthouse.

Cases now filed in Glendale, Pasadena, East Los Angeles, El Monte, West Covina and Pomona must be filed in Alhambra; those now filed in Bellflower, Compton, Huntington Park, Long Beach, Norwalk, San Pedro and Whittier will go to Downey; cases now filed in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, Torrance and West Los Angeles, and those now filed in Chatsworth, Santa Clarita, and San Fernando, will got to Van Nuys East.

The Mosk and Antonovich courthouses will serve the same areas they do now.

•All unlimited jurisdiction personal injury cases will be filed at Mosk. Personal injury will be defined to include motor vehicle, product liability, medical malpractice, premises liability, intentionally causing bodily injury, or “Other Personal Injury/Property Damage/Wrongful Death” cases.

“Actions for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, civil rights/discrimination and malpractice other than medical malpractice are not included in this definition,” the court said, nor are actions for injury to real property.

•Filing locations for limited jurisdiction cases will be determined by whether the cases are classified as “collections” or “non-collections.”

Collections cases, generally defined by Rule 3.740 of the California Rules of Court as actions “arising from a transaction in which property, services, or money was acquired on credit,” will be divided between Chatsworth and Norwalk. Non-collections cases will be filed at Mosk.

•All unlawful detainer cases will be filed at five hubs: Pasadena, Long Beach, the Antonovich and Mosk courthouses, and Santa Monica.

ZIP-Coded Charts

Further information, including ZIP-coded charts directing which hub to file a small claims, unlawful detainer, or limited jurisdiction collections case at, may be obtained from the court’s website, lasuperiorcourt.org. The charts will also be posted at the various courthouses, the court said.

Parties and attorneys with pending cases will be notified within the next eight weeks if those cases are to be shifted, the court said.

In an unexpected development, cases now filed at the Catalina Courthouse will continue to be filed there, according to the charts. That courthouse was one of 10 slated for closure when the plan was announced last year.

There was no immediate explanation from the court, but an employee familiar with the situation said there were concerns that if the building were closed, the court would not be able to reopen it in the future due to seismic regulations.

See Orders and Notices to Attorneys regarding each type of case at http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/consolidation/ui/.