CA Newspaper Stands Up For Justice
“… but there is something particularly disturbing about a closed courtroom and what that says about how we govern and how we view access to justice” says the The Record newspaper of San Joaquin County...
View ArticleCA Courts Begin New System For Rationing Budget
It was just a "drop in the bucket," according to California's chief courts fiscal officer, but the restored funding from our recently passed state budget is being allocated under a new formula that...
View ArticleThree Large-State Court Leaders Bemoan Funding Cuts
Chief justices from California, New York and Texas joined three federal judges Thursday in bemoaning court funding nationwide. The group was part of an American Bar Association conference in San...
View ArticlePushback, Frustration Mounts Against Slow Court Dockets
It will take a bit more time before the most recent civil court budget courts, and their resulting delays, become a routine part of lawsuit strategy. But, already you can see where people seeking their...
View ArticleCourt Cuts Are 'Back To The Future' For Delays
A relatively older post (meaning pre-2013 state budget) by a West Hollywood attorney has been making the rounds (at least our rounds) because it notes that the looming delays in California's civil...
View Article'System Failure' Closes 'Public' Court Budget Meeting
State officials are blaming a "systems failure" for loss of an audiocast feed that effectively shut unions and others out of a key budget-allocation meeting this week. The failure took on added impact,...
View ArticleAppeals Court Rules On Long-Standing Appeal Of Deputy Dismissal
A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy (turned security officer) in a labor case that began with a firing in 1990 and illustrates how "old"...
View ArticlePaper Notes $93 Million Question For Trial Courts
The Desert Dispatch newspaper in San Bernardino County is among few outlets noting that the California Judicial Council will decide THIS WEEK where to allocate up to $93 million of "special funds" to...
View ArticleTrial Courts Held 'Hostage' In Security Cost Dispute
Now even the most basic courthouse security is a budget issue. In effect, California's sheriffs and its judges are having a debate over paying for deputies who protect the courts. The Courthouse News...
View ArticleInmate Release Offering Lessons For Civil Courts?
For those seeking court reform, whether civil or criminal, the ongoing issue of releasing some 10,000 California inmates offers some potential lessons. For one thing, it suggests that the only real...
View ArticleNext CA Budget Milestone: Sept. 13
The next chance at revising California’s budget is Sept. 13, and already the judicial branch is finding that the governor is unlikely to treat it as a special “separate” branch of government. The...
View ArticleThis ‘Third Branch’ Funding Story Sounds Familiar
Lawmakers who pretty much ignore budget reality. A chief executive with budget priorities that do not include some other branch of government. Massive cuts to the services that actually help citizens,...
View ArticleAdmin Raises Amid Worker Layoffs Riles A Writer
Wow. We can add Lois Henry to the list of columnists who are less than thrilled with how California’s civil courts are being administered. The regular columnist for The Bakersfield Californian...
View ArticleHuffPo Blogger Hits L.A. Courts Pretty Hard
Writer Steve Bevilacqua is not too happy with the L.A. courts and much prefers the no-frills justice handed out by Judge Judy. In a Huffington Post blog, he first wonders “… is a Hollywood soundstage...
View ArticleGov. Brown Hires For Superior Court Positions
A few new people will be coming to work for the state’s superior court system soon, but as regular readers have no doubt realized it’s not support staff. Announced is another round of judicial hires...
View ArticleLong Waits Render Issues Nearly Moot, Ridiculous
At first, the story of Sergio Garcia seems merely interesting: He was born in Mexico but has spent much of his life in the United States, where he earned a law degree but is not yet a citizen. Now the...
View ArticleNext Battle For Court Workers: Outsourcing
Now that the dreaded courthouse layoffs have become the new reality, another issue is inching toward center stage for the justice system: outsourcing. The legislature seems ready to limit trial court...
View ArticleCourts Praised For Decisions On Prop. 65 Cases
It’s not every day you get a significant insurance recovery firm singing the praises of California’s justice system. Yet firms like Proskauer Rose LLP are doing just that in the wake of some judicial...
View ArticleSacramento Superior Court “stuck” with sheriff’s budget shortfall
According to a report by the Sacramento Bee, the Sheriff’s Department had notified Sacramento Superior Court in July that they expected a combination of funding shortfall and added costs totaling $2.2...
View ArticleAlready? For 2014 Courts Face A Zinger
Apparently it’s not too early to begin fearing at least one aspect of California court spending next year. As of the 2014-15 fiscal year starting July 1, 2014, trial courts will no longer be able to...
View ArticleSan Joaquin Small Claims Court Re-Opens
Like many counties, including Los Angeles, the San Joaquin County Superior Court laid off workers and closed courtrooms in anticipation of budget cuts. Unlike many counties, including Los Angeles, that...
View ArticleCA Stat Report Getting Very Cautious Reception
That Court Statistics Report we’ve noted earlier is getting a very, very cautious reception in the justice community. Look for serious spinning later, but for now we’ll offer an example that...
View ArticleJudge Says Court Closures May Bring Violence
Reduced access to civil courts will mean that people take the law into their own hands, including using violence in their disputes, according to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Phil Mautino, who is...
View ArticleJudges Might Hear Cases Of Political Donors
A California Supreme Court ethics committee is seeking comments on a draft opinion that would allow state judges to hear cases of lawyers whose firms have donated to the judge’s campaigns, just so long...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Marin County Superior Court on ‘losing end’ of budget reallocations
According to a report by Gary Klien of Marin Independent Journal, Marin County dozens of court employees, with representatives of their union, SEIU Local 1021, rallied outside the courthouse late last...
View ArticleInterpreter Dispute: Hundreds Protest Across 7 Counties
More than 900 interpreters across seven Central California counties picketed this week to raise awareness about ongoing negotiations between the union for interpreters and the Administrative Office of...
View ArticleChevron "Donziger" case wrapping up in NYC
One of the most-watched civil cases in the country, pitting California-based Chevron against what the New York Times called a “freelance” attorney, is headed for closing arguments this week in New York...
View ArticleVerdict Is In: California Courts Hellish
Isn't it funny when you totally agree with somebody, but for totally different reasons?The Washington D.C. based American Tort Reform Association, known as ATRA, released a report on Tuesday...
View ArticleU.S. Chief Justice Pleads For More Funding, Warns Of Constitutional Issues
The new year began with a New Year’s Eve warning from U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts that sounds a lot like a federal version of what California has been going through for several years. In...
View ArticleGreat New Courthouse Threatened By Budget Woes
Up in a San Joaquin Valley community of about 60,000, they have one of those great new courthouses that escaped state judicial budget cuts. It sounds great, described as a “… sparkling new 96,500...
View ArticleJustice Takes the Slow Lane
When it comes to discussing United States civil court policy, which frankly I do more than some of my friends might like, I have to thank Newport News, Virginia civil courts for illustrating a...
View ArticlePandora's Box: Dems Should Pay Close Attention to Victims Facing Asbestos...
A slow-motion train wreck in one of America's longest running personal injury communities is expanding beyond legal theory, potentially dragging hundreds of families back into lawsuits they thought...
View ArticleDems Tone-Deaf on Veterans' Asbestos Issue
"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."--Rahm Emanual, Mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of...
View ArticleAsbestos Litigation Industry Buzzes Over NYC's Silver Case, 'Iron Triangle'
For a while it was looking like a heavyweight showdown of sorts, at least as civil litigation panel discussions go, being billed as the "Battle in the Big Apple," featuring a name attorney from the...
View ArticleAsbestos-Victim Families May Face Govt. Repayment Issue
In the hardball political world of mesothelioma litigation, the asbestos-related cancer that fuels all those commercials, it's getting hard to tell if some victims are going to be branded as Medicare...
View ArticleLawyers, Lightning and Building Codes
Even if you balk at the idea that plaintiffs' attorneys can become "the common people's attorneys general," you still have to admit that some of the research and advocacy that goes into lawsuits can...
View ArticleBuddy Holly’s Hometown Unlikely Pioneer With Lightning and ‘CSST’ Fuel Gas...
Originally published in the Huffington Post. A 2012 lightning incident, the resulting house fire and tragic death of a 31-year-old Texan, combined with the resulting civil litigation, seem poised to...
View Article'Outlier': Garlock Case Gives Traction to Asbestos Fraud Claims
Originally featured in the Huffington Post.Even if all you know (or ever want to know) about the world of asbestos litigation business comes from those unavoidable "if you or a loved one has been...
View ArticleSafety Advocates, Lawyers Target Big Box Retailers In 'Yellow CSST' Natural...
Straight out of Lubbock, Texas comes the latest escalation of a nationwide battle over how millions of American homes receive natural gas fuel. As Buddy Holly's hometown considers becoming the first...
View ArticleWill Sheldon Silver's Conviction Tip Course Of Asbestos Litigation? It Might.
Even before a federal jury in New York found former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver guilty on all seven corruption charges this week, it was clear that the weeks-long trial and its sordid details...
View ArticleVictim's Mom Questions Delay on Lubbock CSST Gas Line Reform
Courts Monitor Publisher Sara Warner has written about a dangerous type of natural gas pipe that’s found in millions of American homes. It’s the focus of proposed changes in Lubbock, Texas where the...
View ArticleAs asbestos fraud debate heats up, Texas A.G. Paxton joins fray; Muckraking...
By Sara Corcoran, Publisher, California Courts Monitor & National Courts MonitorGiven our partisan political environment, you might not expect to find the conservative Texas Attorney General Ken...
View ArticleIconic S.C. Judge, Odd Dateline Mark Milestone In Talc Cancer Litigation
by Sara Corcoran, Courts Monitor Publisher“So far, the story of the talc litigation has mostly been about two things—the science and the choice of forum,” said Howard Erichson, a professor at Fordham...
View ArticleTar Heel State on Point to Tackle Asbestos Fraud
by Sara Corcoran, Courts Monitor PublisherNorth Carolina, long famous for great college sports and some of the nation’s best barbecue, is fast earning recognition of another sort: Being at the...
View ArticleThis is Prohibition Repeal's 85th Anniversary: Good Time for Pot Industry to...
(This article was originally published in CityWatch LA on 12/24/18.)Perhaps lost in the recent news cycles, obstructed by the 24/7 Trump-Tweet buzz, was that the discredited cultural experiment of...
View ArticleDeep Fake Menace Vs Trump’s Fantasy World
(This article was originally published in CityWatch.)Waking up on the East Coast, as I have done for most of the past seven hundred and forty plus days of Trump's presidency, in shock and awe.My...
View ArticleAsbestos-Style Lawsuits Growing in N.C. Agribusiness Trials
Recently, North Carolina has been making national headlines for its tawdry and tainted congressional election, but for some observers, an equally interesting civil courts drama is playing out in the...
View ArticleFarmers Breathe Easier After N.C. Trial, More Battles on the Horizon
by Sara Corcoran, Courts Monitor PublisherNationwide, including California, agricultural interests are likely breathing a collective sigh of relief after a North Carolina jury awarded a relatively low...
View Article‘Awash in Cash’ Ed-Tech Firms Still Vie for PPP Cash
By Sara Schinella, Courts Monitor PublisherCollective eyebrows have been raised across several industries as the government discloses just who received those Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)...
View ArticleAffordable Housing Getting Crunched
By Sara CorcoranAFFORDABLE HOUSING POLITICS - Maybe you have noticed that across SoCal and all over the great Golden State, a new state law is taking effect in an effort to increase the state’s...
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