Expect Los Angeles County Jury Verdict Awards to go up….

The infamous Personal Injury Hub (PI Hub) at the Los Angeles County Superior Court (LASC), where all non-complex personal injury matters are handled, but not for trial, is coming to an end. This is disappointing news because cases assigned to the PI Hub located in downtown Los Angeles did not necessarily remain there for trial but could be reassigned to any available courtroom throughout the county – including more business-friendly courthouses / jury pools - such as Chatsworth, Pomona, and Norwalk.

This process will consist of two phases. The first phase will begin on October 10, 2022, when new personal injury cases will be handled in the courthouse located in the district where the accident occurred. Once the case has been assigned to a judge, that judge will oversee the matter from start to finish – including trial - with a jury pool from that district. During Phase II, the 42 courtrooms in the main downtown Los Angeles courthouse - the Stanley Mosk Courthouse - will hear trials for personal injury cases for the very large Central District which includes Los Angeles, Atwater Village, Boyle Heights, City of Commerce, Eagle Rock, Echo Park, and Hollywood.

No date has been set yet for the implementation of Phase 2 of this transition as that is dependent on how quickly the PI Hub is able to reduce its current caseload of approximately 45,000 cases, as well as the ongoing review of new case filings and inventories in the other districts. Phase 2 will also transition some of the PI Hub courtrooms to Central or other districts as needed.

The reason the PI Hub is being phased out is, ironically, because state funding has been increased for one of the largest trial courthouses in the nation. Severe budget cuts to the judicial system in California were implemented for the past number of years, so the LASC adopted the PI Hub in response as a cost-saving measure. The new increased funding will pay for more courtroom and legal staff to support judges in the downtown venue.

While the impact of this transition on the dollar size of future jury verdict awards remains to be seen, this trial lawyer believes that there is only one direction they will go … and that is up. This will not be good for California businesses who before, at least had a chance at a conservative jury pool.