L.A. Civil Court Budget Cuts: Changing Trial Times and Staff

Posted in Law and Information on March 13, 2013

In addition to proposed Los Angeles County trial location changes, pending budget cuts will, if approved, range from $56 to 85 million dollars, and negatively impact multiple other aspects of the legal system. The law firm of Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis, Inc. is against the cuts due to the limitations they will impose on justice and fairness in both civil and criminal courts if passed.

The following lists the harmful impact the proposed cuts will have if passed in relation to trial times and staff:

• Staff in trial courtrooms will be reduced.
• Complete termination of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program provided and managed by the court.
• The Juvenile mediation program will receive a one-half reduction.
• There will no longer be CMCs for the case to ensure the case is “at-issue” before a trial date is provided. Plaintiffs are responsible for getting the proper parties in time and ensuring service was proper.
• Trial dates will be set for 18 months after the date of filing.
• Additionally, all parties involved must be served within six months. If not, the defendant may object. If this occurs or the party is not ready for trial at a set Final Status Conference (FSC) date, the trial date could be lost and the case sent to the end of the line.
• For a Los Angeles County personal injury case, FSC must be confirmed “ready” eight court days before trial.
• It is uncertain how trial dates will stay the same for the 20,000 cases from Los Angeles branch courts being transferred to Los Angeles Mosk.
• Discretion will be given to the court to dismiss after two and three year filing date for Failure to Prosecute.
• Courts will no longer handle demurrers or motions to compel. Discovery issues will have to be handled between the parties, with the help of a discovery referee, or in some other manner.
• There will be no more court reporters in L.A. County.
• Immigration courts will have less staff support, more work, less hearings, and have a restricted time for the courtroom to be called.

This is the second blog in our series revealing possible Los Angeles court cutbacks and changes due to proposed harmful budget cuts. Read the first blog post in this series to learn more about alterations to locations for trials.