Judges juggling up to 500 cases at a time
Judging by the caseload at the Santa Monica Courthouse, this is one litigious city.
There are more lawsuits filed here than in any other similarly-sized court in the Los Angeles Superior Court system. During the past year and a half alone, civil case filings in Santa Monica have increased between 18-20 percent.
The dramatic increase in litigation has taxed the court system in Santa Monica and forced judges to juggle up to 500 cases at a time.
Everything from personal injury slip-and-fall-cases to criminal prosecutions to high-profile civil lawsuits are heard in Santa Monica.
However, the lion’s share of cases here are medical malpractice suits, landlord-tenant disputes, motor vehicle claims and breach of contract disputes, judges say.
Over the years, the stakes have gotten higher on the westside not only because its business district has expanded significantly, but because the kind of people living and working here has changed too.
“The demographics of the west district are such that you have so much business activity and a lot of criminal prosecutions within the city so the socio-economics of what goes on here make the extremes tremendous,” said Alan Haber, the supervising judge who oversees six courthouses and 46 judges on the westside.
“When you have people living in multi-million homes and expensive condominium projects, the stakes get high,” he added.
Throw in the fact that much of the entertainment industry is now in Santa Monica and it becomes a breeding ground for lawyers.
Many judges speculate that Santa Monica is seen as a better option by attorneys than the downtown Los Angeles Courthouse, which sees about 21,000 cases filed a year.
“My hunch is lawyers prefer the convenience of the west district,” Haber said.
Haber spends his morning looking at court calendars to see which judges may be bogged down and need assistance. Sometimes, he’ll transfer a jury trial over to another courtroom if necessary.
“I’m like a traffic cop,” Haber said. “I direct traffic every day.”
“I’m like a traffic cop. I direct traffic every day.” — — ALAN HABER Superior court judge
Superior Court Judge Paul Flynn almost had to do some redirecting earlier this week when his court calendar showed three jury trials scheduled for Monday.
But Flynn was able to divert two of them by taking the parties into his chambers and convincing them to reach a settlement.
Last month there were 39 cases filed in Flynn’s department. Usually the number of cases filed each month is between 40 and 50 in each of Santa Monica’s nine civil litigation courtrooms.
Sometimes judges can reduce their workload either by working with the litigants or sending them to a less busy courtroom, which isn’t common, Flynn said.
“Everybody’s stuffed,” he said. “You have to carry your own snakes, so to speak.”
About 5,700 cases are filed every year in the superior court’s west district, which is comprised of Santa Monica, Malibu, West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City and the Airport courthouses.
“This district has the highest number of general civil filings of all the courthouses,” Haber said. “These are heavy case-loads but we are trying to bring them down to about 400 for each judge and then it’s manageable.”
The judges in Santa Monica certainly don’t fit the stereotype.
“You don’t fold up your tent and go play golf,” Haber said. “You really have to put in a hard day’s work here.”
Despite the increased workload, Haber believes the Santa Monica Courthouse is one of the more desirable posts in the superior court system. However, some may want to stay away on purpose for that very reason.
“There are some judges who have very low numbers (of cases) who don’t want to come here,” Flynn said.
Former Superior Court Judge Debra W. Yang, who left the Santa Monica Courthouse in May to become U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said she admired her colleagues for handling such a rigorous workload and would miss their work ethic more than anything. She passed her 500 pending suits to Judge Jacqueline Connor knowing it would be an arduous task to become familiar with the cases.
“We could stand to have a few more judges here,” Yang said.
The average case takes 15 months to resolve, but judges always try to settle the case while it continues to live at the courthouse.
“Statistically between 97 and 98 percent of the cases get settled here,” Haber said.
But as the litigants become more high profile, their cases become more complicated.
“The more money people have to spend the more they spend on their lawyers,” Haber said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 14, 2002. Read the original PDF.