SoCal Pro Bono Center

By TERI FIGUEROA - tfigueroa@nctimes.com

VISTA ---- As local courts juggle more cases and a backlog with smaller staffs, state officials are talking about shutting down California's cash-strapped courts one day a month.

The grim discussions at the state level come six months after San Diego County courts cut back its office hours for public access, a local decision made in the face of a flood of new cases coupled with a hiring freeze.

Last December, most departments at the Melrose Drive facility started closing their counters an hour earlier, at 3:30 p.m. And there is no end in sight to the limited hours.

"When workload is up and staff is down, there is only so much we can do," said Michael Roddy, the executive director of San Diego County Superior Court. "And that is not going to improve with the budget we have next year. The resources don't match the needs.

"We are going to have to fundamentally change the way we do business," he said.

In the face of a $400 million shortfall for courts statewide, court officials are floating a proposal to shutter the courts one day a month, and it could happen before the calendar year is up. The move would save the state as much as $100 million a year in wages, said Lynn Holton, the spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the Courts, which runs the courts on the statewide level.

"There are very significant budget cuts facing the courts right now," Holton said.

Statewide, the court system budget was more than $3.87 billion in fiscal year 2008-09. With the savings from this proposal factored in, the court system would carry a nearly $3.74 billion price tag for 2009-10.

Holton said the idea is only in the conceptual stages, up for discussion at the highest levels among court administrators. It has not been put to paper or put out for public comment. And any such closures would first require approval from the state Legislature, which sets all court holidays, Holton said.

She said details such as speedy-trial issues ---- state law requires hearings for criminal defendants be within prescribed time frames unless they waive that right ---- would have to be worked out.

If the once-a-month closures happen, and that is a big if, all the courts across the state would be closed on the same day, in the interest of uniformity. Holton said budget-related closures of the courts statewide would be a first.

Each county would have to decide if the closure means an unpaid day off for the clerks, or just a shuttering of all public access for that particular day while the clerks dive into paperwork. Some of the money savings could be found in the need for less security on days the court is closed to the public, Holton said.

Almost half of the projected $400 million shortfall, Holton said, reflects actual cuts to the courts. The other half accounts for projected growth items and existing shortfalls in programs that would not be funded.

Some of the shortfall money is part of a one-time slashing of $92 million from the state court budget this year. Although it was supposed to be a one-time deal, it appears the courts will be asked to weather that cut a second time in the coming budget. The fiscal year begins in July.

The budget squeezes are trickling down to the state-funded county courts. Statewide, the volume handled by San Diego County's courts is second only to that of Los Angeles County.

Roddy said that the local courts are projected to receive $215 million this coming year, as much as a seven percent dip in the $231 million they worked with this year.

Those cutbacks, he said he fears, could mean the court would have to double the 220 vacancies it has throughout the county. Doubling that amount would mean 1 in every 4 of the 1,700 jobs at the court would be vacant.

"This is the single-biggest issue facing the court right now, but we will get through this," Roddy said of the budget problems. "We will do the best job we can do ... but the magnitude of the problem is such that the courts will take a hit."

Roddy's local staffers are juggling an increasing caseload. Take eviction cases, filings for which jumped by 30 percent this year in North County alone.

Civil attorney Mary Cataldo is the vice president of the North County Bar Association, and she said she has concerns that the backlogs translate into longer wait times for clients.

"The biggest issue that we are seeing is delays," Cataldo said. "It takes several months to get a motion date, longer to get our paperwork back. Processing time is taking a longer time. Unfortunately, it is the critical time periods that get affected."

For example, Cataldo said, take the case of a person who wins a monetary judgment and wants to collect from the debtor, but sees the paperwork get stuck in the bottleneck of the court's business office.

And in that few weeks time, the debtor's money may very likely disappear ---- possibly leaving the person trying to collect the money hung out to dry, she said.

Civil attorney Randy Ortlieb, also a board member of the North County Bar Association, said he has not seen any problems with the shorter hours ---- "I'm knocking on wood as I say that," he said ---- but said the possibility of a once-a-month closure has him concerned. It could translate into missed deadlines for those unaware of the closures.

Ortlieb's first response: "Wow."

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442.

© Copyright 2009, The North County Times, Escondido, CA