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Metropolitan
News-Enterprise Municipal Court Judges Sworn In to Los Angeles Superior Court By
ROBERT GREENE, Staff Writer
It was for the most part business as usual at the 50-plus courthouses around Los Angeles County yesterday, the first business day of the expanded, unified Los Angeles Superior Court. The court nearly doubled in size Saturday as about 150 judges from 24 municipal courts around the county were sworn in to the newly unified court by state Chief Justice Ronald George. Ceremonies at the Biltmore Hotel began at 1 p.m. when with the stroke of a pen George certified the results of this month's judicial vote to merge the regional courts of limited jurisdiction into the countywide Superior Court. The municipal courts officially ceased to exist, and all municipal court matters pending on Friday, from small claims and traffic violations to major lawsuits and violent crimes, became Superior Court cases when court was called to order yesterday. But under transition regulations, all rules and procedures of the former municipal courts remain in effect until a comprehensive conversion system is adopted. It was described by one court administrator as the Superior Court version of Y2K, with predictions of widespread system failure and confusion failing to develop. Rumors that former municipal court filing windows could not accept lawsuits because they were not supplied with Superior Court seals and stamps were quickly quashed. "We had a special noon meeting with the supervising judges and discussed with them how to move slowly and carefully," Presiding Judge Victor Chavez said, although he added that "we're moving as fast as we can" on several crucial governance areas. Top priorities include designating lead judges in the former municipal court courthouses where currently no supervising judge sits, Chavez said. The former municipal court presiding judges who were in charge in those buildings before Saturday no longer have any official leadership role there. Also high on Chavez's agenda are new assignments for municipal court judges and elections for a new Executive Committee to set policy and take official action. The presiding judge said he has prepared a letter for the newly elevated judges asking them to advise him of their "qualifications, desires, and experience," as well as whether they want to serve on any committees. Chavez, who said he is relying heavily on his supervising judges around the county, is in a sense governing alone until a new Executive Committee is elected. Under a governance agreement adopted by the judges in December, the prior committee ceased to exist when the vote unifying the courts was certified. The new committee is to be elected by geographic district instead of by seniority as before. To serve as liaisons between the court leadership and the judges elevated Saturday, Chavez appointed Judge Dale S. Fischer, formerly of the Los Angeles Municipal Court, and Judge Jack Hunt, formerly of the Pomona Municipal Court. Fischer and Hunt will serve full time in their liaison roles, although Chavez stressed that the assignments are temporary. "I hope it's a very short tenure" before any problems are worked out, Chavez said. Sheriff Lee Baca, who was present at the judicial oath-taking, said unification offered a great potential for savings to his department, which supplies the lockup and transportation deputies for criminal defendants as well as the bailiffs in each of the more than 500 courtrooms. If criminal matters are transferred from some of the smaller former municipal courthouses, he said, thousands of hours could be saved by deputies who now must drive across the county to testify. He added that he hoped the move would also bring new trial court funding directly to his department. "The great benefit in unification is that the Superior Court of the State of California will start to fully fund the justice needs of Los Angeles County," Baca said. "Now we must get our heads together, and get more judges assigned and acquire more trial court funding for deputy personnel in the lockups." Other departments also will be directly affected by unification, although in most cases it's far too early to determine the extent of new savings--or costs. Assistant Public Defender Robert Kalunian said his department must keep an eye on the offices that it now has in courthouses where most of the felony trial work is done. Any shift in Superior Court cases among the facilities will affect his deputies, Kalunian said, as well as lawyers in the District Attorney's Office and the Alternate Public Defender's Office. "We are certainly looking forward to providing the court with input on our operations," Kalunian said. The afternoon ceremonies launching the expanded Superior Court began with a signing session in the Biltmore Hotel's Roman Room at which George officially certified--in quadruplicate--the judges' vote earlier this month. A handful of judges with black robes draped over their arms craned their necks in the small room to watch George, and then the state courts' chief administrator William Vickery, sign the documents certifying the vote. Chavez noted that the certification corrected the previously announced vote totals of Superior Court judges at 153-74, with one abstention. "This is a moment that we've all waited a very long time for," Chavez told the group. "It's a time of great joy for all of us." Later, more municipal court judges gathered with family members in the nearby but much larger Biltmore Bowl for their swearing-in. The robes started going on at around 1:45, as the Superior Court judges-to-be-gathered in the roped off front seating section of the hall. At 2 p.m., the assembly was called to order as an official session of the Los Angeles Superior Court, with Chavez presiding. "I'm just absolutely excited about this unprecedented opportunity for Los Angeles County," Chavez said. Los Angeles County is the 55th of the state's 58 counties to unify their courts, and George said the state's remaining 31 municipal court judges may now be eligible for endangered species status. Los Angeles Superior Court judges voted against unification twice before ultimately accepting the move amid budget pressure from the state Judicial Council and the Legislature. The courts in the nation's largest county were threatened to be cut off from funds to modernize facilities and add innovative programs if they didn't unify. The crowd broke into nervous laughter when George said the judges in Kern County "are continuing to review their options." Just before 3 p.m., George administered the oath to the assembled municipal court judges, who then became Superior Court judges entitled to a higher salary and the ability to preside over felony cases, family and juvenile matters, and large lawsuits. Each of the former presiding judges of the county's 24 former municipal courts, from the 89-judge Los Angeles Municipal Court to the one-judge Malibu Municipal Court, then introduced themselves and their colleagues. "Welcome to the Los Angeles Superior Court," Chavez told them. |
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Metropolitan News Company, 2000