Expect delays in L.A. County Courtrooms

The State of California 2024-25 fiscal year budget, effective July 1, 2024, is in – and it is not good news for the LA county court system. The likely impact is further delays throughout the system, both in getting hearing dates for motions and trial dates in civil cases, as well as delays in other services such as probate and family matters.

Depending on what source you read for your news, the deficit for the state of California budget for the current fiscal year ranges anywhere from $35 to nearly $70 billion. As a result, Governor Newsom signed a budget reflecting a $97 million cut from the state trial courts. Los Angeles County, by far the largest trial court system in the state of California, is being hit with a significant portion of the overall cuts to the tune of $30.3 million. In response to these cuts, the Superior Court of L.A. County announced on July 1 a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VISP) to the tune of a onetime $35,000 payment to all qualified staff who have worked for the court for five years or more if they resign by October 1, 2024. Positions vacated as part of the VISP will be eliminated.

This budget cut will further compound existing problems. The filings in the LA county court system have increased by 48% from fiscal year 2008-2009 from approximately 56,000 filings to more than 83,000 filings for last year. That's an increase of over 25,000 cases a year. This increase has been most keenly felt by the judges and courtroom staff who are assigned to handle these matters. The average caseload for a judge handling unlimited civil matters has nearly doubled over the last decade from an average of 443 cases per courtroom in 2014 to nearly 850 cases in December 2023.

To make matters worse, as of June 1, according to the Judicial Council of California, there were 27 judicial vacancies in the Los Angeles County Court system.

This increased case load and vacancies will likely result in further delays of cases going out to trial. The law requires that an action be brought to trial within five years after it's filed. There is an exception for elderly individuals and those with less than six months to live. While many cases in the last few years have been set for trial within 2 to 3 years, it is likely we will see trial dates set closer to the five-year statute.

Moreover, routine motions requiring 16 days’ notice are already being set beyond this threshold. Further, Motions for Summary Judgment, which requires a minimum of 75 days’ notice, are being routinely set after the initial trial date is scheduled requiring the moving party to move the trial date to accommodate the motion for summary judgment hearing date – not the other way around.

And with all this bad budget news, it seems that the Los Angeles County Court system just can't catch a break. Most recently, the court announced that it had to declare a legal holiday on Monday, July 22 due to a ransomware attack. As a result, all hearing dates scheduled for that date were continued to a future date as well as many trial dates.

Needless to say, patience and understanding are needed by all who deal with our overworked Judges and court staff as well as a word of thanks when we get the opportunity.