Judge Says Appeals Court at ‘Saturation Point’ With Backlog

The state appellate court in Santa Ana has reached the “saturation point,” with its backlog of cases growing so fast that it is now taking the court an average of three years to issue a ruling on an appeal in a civil lawsuit, according to Presiding Justice John K. Trotter Jr..

“The irony is that taxpayers are forced to endure this tremendous wait to get their issues resolved,” Trotter said. “It’s the inability of the governor and the Legislature to create more judges that forces the taxpayers of Orange County to bear this burden.”

With the Legislature scheduled to adjourn in Sacramento today, a push for creation of new appellate judgeships statewide was “dead in the water” Thursday, according to John W. Davies, assistant director of the statewide Administrative Office of the Courts in Sacramento.

In Santa Ana, the four justices of the 3rd Division of the 4th Appellate Court District wrote 572 opinions in the year ended July 1, but 635 new appeals were filed in the same year, according to statistics compiled by the court, Trotter said.

Each Averages 140 Opinions

Each judge wrote an average of 140 opinions last year--well above the statewide average of 104, according to the most recent report of the Judicial Council of California.

In an interview, Trotter pointed to other significant points in the council’s report:

- In the last year, the California Supreme Court accepted only four cases from the Santa Ana appellate division for review. The total number of cases decided by the Santa Ana appeals court was 1,225. Of those, 572 were decided with opinions and 175 without opinions; in the other 478, writs were denied.

To Trotter, that means the importance of the appeals court in the review process has grown.

“What this shows is that the appeals courts really do act as the court of last resort because the Supreme Court is so overburdened,” he said.

- More than 90% of the backlogged appeals are in non-criminal cases, Trotter said. Criminal cases are given priority over civil lawsuits under the state Constitution.

- Of the 243 criminal cases decided last year, 86% of the convictions were affirmed by the appeals court, according to statistics provided by David N. Johnson of the court clerk’s office in Santa Ana.

Justice Edward J. Wallin wrote opinions reversing 12 criminal convictions. Justice Thomas F. Crosby Jr. reversed 10. Justice Sheila P. Sonenshine reversed nine. And Trotter wrote opinions reversing three criminal convictions. In all 34 cases, criminal defendants were sent back for new trials.

- More appeals in lawsuits were filed in Santa Ana than in any other appellate division in the state. A total of 424 civil appeals were filed in the Santa Ana court for the 11 months ended May 30, the last period for which those statistics were available.

“We just can’t get into the backlog,” Trotter said. “Each year that this buildup continues, we add four to six months to the delay in the average case.”

On the average, 18 months pass between the time an appeal is filed and the case is fully briefed and argued and ready for decision. As of today, it takes another 18 months, on the average, for the appellate court to decide the case.

Davies, of the state administrative office of the courts, said the most recent report shows that the Santa Ana division deserves “two, maybe three additional justices.”