Contra Costa Lawyer - Contra Costa County Bar Association

Hon. Barry P. Goode
Supervising Judge
civil law
In the judicial branch, change is
generally slow but inexorable. So
it has been with the Civil Division
this year. There have been a few
changes in recent months, but much has
stayed the same. As of January 2010,
Judge Flinn left the complex civil department
and Judge Maddock left his
fast track department, each after three
years of dedicated service. They will be
missed.
Judge Cheryl Mills now sits in what
had been Judge Maddock’s department.
Judge Goode occupies the complex civil
department. In all other respects, the
assignments remain the same. Judges
Craddick, Zuniga and Baskin continue
to serve in fast track civil departments.
Commissioner Sanders still does her
extraordinary work with discovery motions,
ex parte applications, orders of
examinations, name changes and the
myriad of other things she handles.
However, as described elsewhere in
this magazine, in just a few more months
Judges Craddick and Zuniga will move
on to new assignments. They will be replaced
by Judges Brady and Austin. The
division is lucky to have had the benefit
of two such experienced judges and is
equally lucky to be getting two seasoned
judicial officers to replace them.
There has been one other noticeable
change this year. In January 2010, the
Court divided the work of the limited
jurisdiction civil department among the
other civil departments. So, now each of
the five unlimited civil departments has
a portfolio of limited jurisdiction cases
as well. That means that at 8:30 a.m.
(most mornings) the fast track and complex
civil departments call a calendar of
up to a dozen limited cases. It also means
that from time to time they have trials of
limited jurisdiction matters.
The merger of the limited civil caseload
with the unlimited civil caseload
during this time of budget woes has
created strains in the clerk’s office. The
Court’s staff has shrunk by approximately
20% since the beginning of the
current budget crisis – with commensurate
reductions in the Civil Division.
With fewer clerks to process papers, the
unlimited civil cases have gotten priority
attention to the detriment of the limited
cases. Thus, defaults, writs and abstracts,
new complaints and loose filings have
become seriously backlogged. The Court
has devised a plan to address that backlog
and will, hopefully, have it cleared by
late September or early October. No one
likes having this backlog, and we are all
looking forward to having it eliminated.
We appreciate the great effort that all
our staff has made to try to keep up with
a truly overwhelming workload.
Other changes are more subtle. For
example, in the complex department,
trials are now scheduled in the mornings
as well as the afternoons. And Department
19 is trying an experiment in recalendaring
trials. If the parties agree
that their case will be ready for trial in
the next thirty to sixty days, they can
contact the clerk. The Court will try to
get them on calendar in lieu of a case
that was previously set but has settled.
Of course settlement is still very important.
We are fortunate to have the active
assistance of the CCCBA which – together
with Magda Lopez - is the engine
that drives our alternate dispute resolution
program. With their assistance, we
were able to dispose of more than a thousand
cases last year. We are on track to
hit that number again this year.
Although great attention is rightfully
paid to alternate dispute resolution, and
although much has been written about
the demise of civil trials, that death has
been much overstated. Indeed, as of this
writing, four of the five civil departments
are in the middle of trial. One department
has been in trial two thirds of the
time this year.
Two years ago, writing in these pages,
Judge Flinn discussed the use of e-filing
in the complex civil department. He explained
its benefits and looked forward
to expanding its use to other unlimited
civil cases and even some types of limited
jurisdiction matters. He said “we
are now very close to making e-filing
available for all unlimited civil actions...”
That was before the bottom dropped out
of the budget. However, it is still a goal
to be pursued once the budget situation
improves. It seems inevitable that we
will someday swap electrons for ink and
paper. Change is, after all, inexorable, albeit
slow. u
10 September 2010