Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Monday, August 21, 2006

 

Page 1

 

Officials Still Uncertain About When CCW Will Reopen

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Los Angeles Superior Court’s Central Civil West Courthouse at 600 S. Commonwealth Ave. remains closed today but will hopefully reopen tomorrow for regular business, officials said.

Court spokesperson Allan Parachini told the MetNews there was a “strong possibility” that the courthouse, which has been closed to the public since Aug. 4 due to a complete power outage following an electrical fire in the building, will open tomorrow morning.

The last two critical hurdles to reopening were an electrical inspection, which the building passed Friday, and a fire inspection that was scheduled to happen over the weekend, Parachini said.

Reopening can occur tomorrow if the court by today obtains a temporary certificate of occupancy from the fire department, and confirms that the facility’s HVAC systems, lights and emergency operations are fully functional, he explained.

But one court official cautioned that there are no guarantees:

“This has been full of not fun surprises all the way through so we’re not, for the moment, assuming anything.  It has become clear to us that it’s not soup until it’s soup.  There have been any number of setbacks along the road.  We just need to be sure that everything is certified safe.”

The court has issued a tentative schedule for the remainder of this week in anticipation of its uncertainty over a reopening date.

Parachini said that if closure had to continue beyond this week, changing space availability at Mosk would require using the Alhambra courthouse to accommodate relocated CCW judges. 

“We don’t want to think about what might happen after that,” he commented, adding that Judge Wendell Mortimer Jr. has already been scheduled to begin a trial at Alhambra today.

If CCW reopens tomorrow, Parachini noted, the only two judges who are expected not to move back to CCW are Judge Ricardo A. Torres, who apparently has a jury in deliberations at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, and Mortimer, who may remain in Alhambra to complete his trial.

The court is continuing to direct all documents that would normally be filed at CCW to be filed in Room 102 of the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.  Additionally, it has advised that fax filings for CCW should be sent to (213) 625-3244, and that clients with appointments for the L.A. County Support Services offices housed at CCW may call (800) 615-8858 for information.

Matters originally set for CCW will continue to be handled by judges and staff relocated to Mosk, 111 N. Hill St., or the Alhambra Court, 150 W. Commonwealth in Alhambra, according to the table below:

 

Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company