8 New Judgeships OKd, County’s 1st Since 1981

Taking a small step to help reduce the backlog in Superior Court, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved eight new judgeships--the first added to the county court system since 1981.

The judges, who will be appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian, will handle civil cases and be assigned to vacant courts in Pomona, Compton, Norwalk, San Fernando and Van Nuys.

Court officials hope the additional judges will help shorten the current 45-month average wait for a civil trial. However, Frank Zolin, executive officer of the Superior Court, noted that the expansion is far short of the 40 additional judges that some studies have found are needed, and only a small increase in the 206-judge system.

Board members had been holding out on approving additional judges in recent years because of tight budgets. The holdout also was part of a strategy to promote such judicial system reforms as reducing the size of some juries and allowing judges to speed the jury-selection process. However, those plans have run into stiff political resistance in Sacramento.

Board Chairman Ed Edelman said it is wrong to continue to “hold judges hostage for something the Legislature and the governor have to deal with.”

The board’s action actually was a compromise designed to avert higher costs. Earlier, Zolin had warned the board that without additional judges the Superior Court, which has independent authority to spend funds, would be forced to fill several court commissioner and referee positions at a cost of more than $1 million.

After negotiations, however, an agreement was struck to delete some court commissioner positions and impose other cost-cutting measures that would generate the $700,000 needed to fill the eight additional judgeships at no increased cost to the county.

State legislation approved last year permits the county to add 18 judges, but board members have said they do not have the funds for the positions. As part of the compromise, the board agreed to consider adding the remaining 10 judges during deliberations on the 1985-86 budget.