Sickout Leaders Urge Return to Courtrooms

Leaders of a two-day sickout that crippled Los Angeles County courts said their point had been “beautifully made” and asked disgruntled court reporters, clerks, prosecutors and public defenders to return to work today.

More than 1,000 employees stayed home again Tuesday, causing the postponement of scores of cases in Superior and Municipal courts, including the McMartin Pre-School molestation case. That case was recessed until today because there was no court reporter for the proceedings.

Only 15% of the court reporters showed up for work in Superior Court, prompting judges in the civil courtrooms to use tape recorders.

One undaunted judge, Jack T. Ryburn, even set up a video camera, saying “we can finish no matter how long the (court) reporters stay out.”

Gary Cramer, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Court Coalition, which staged the job action, said the strong second-day absentee rate was a message to county management that “a full-blown strike is a viable alternative” if the county fails to increase its last wage offer.

“Our point was beautifully made, and now it’s time to go back to work and see what management’s next offer will be,” Cramer said.

However, Don Deise, the county’s senior assistant administrative officer, said it is up to the unions to make the next move. He said 15,000 other workers have already accepted the county’s offer of a 6% increase over two years.

With an eye to the unrest in the courts, the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday asked the county counsel to draft an ordinance for a possible County Charter amendment, aimed at the June ballot, that would prohibit county employees from striking.

“I think it’s very timely in view of the differences of opinion now pending across the mall in our courtrooms,” Supervisor Peter F. Schabarum said.

Frank S. Zolin, Superior Court executive officer, said 50% of the 304 court clerks were out Tuesday. Zolin said a few attorneys, trying cases in which expert witnesses and other costs amounted to $5,000 or more per day, had hired court reporters from private firms to keep their trials moving.

In Municipal Court, officials said, 109 of the 110 court reporters were absent, and 52 of the 114 clerks called in sick.

In the district attorney’s office, 291 of 700 deputy district attorneys did not come to work, according to spokesman Al Albergate. And among the 406 public defenders scheduled to work, 267 were absent, county officials said.

John Iverson, criminal courts coordinator for the Superior Courts, said most delayed cases were rescheduled for today, Thursday or next week.

He predicted that the court schedule today will be “triple big,” which is bad news for anyone who has to deal with the already crowded court system.

“It (the slowdown) has hurt, no way around it,” Iverson said.

In fact, because so few cases were heard Tuesday, a holiday atmosphere prevailed in the downtown Criminal Courts Building. Workers were greeted with empty hallways, easy parking and unfettered use of the normally overcrowded elevators.

In one empty courtroom, a bailiff sat alone reading a newspaper. In another, the lone bailiff seemed eager to chat with anyone who came along.

Jury Trial in Progress

One of the few Superior Courts running normally was that of Judge Michael Tynan, where a cocaine trial, complete with jury, was in progress.

During a recess, the judge, his regular court reporter Christine Olson and his clerk, Josephine Williams, joked with each other.

“Would you please tell them the story of the poor working clerk who makes nothing?” Williams wryly asked a visitor.

When the judge half-seriously teased her that she might be considered a “scab” for staying on the job, Williams replied, “I’m not a scab. I’m just a worker here who is dedicated--underpaid, but dedicated.”

The work stoppage also quieted the normally hectic master calendar courtroom of Superior Court Criminal Division Supervising Judge Aurelio Munoz.

There, substitute clerks at one point pored through boxes and combed shelves for an important missing file.

The case involved a man now imprisoned at Vacaville. His San Francisco lawyer, Dennis Riordan, stood patiently while the judge asked his staff where the file might be.

“It’s a big, thick file,” Munoz said, even joining in the search for a while. He told Riordan, “We’re having problems you wouldn’t know about in San Francisco.” Finally, the missing file was found and the case proceeded.

In the civil courts, however, one attorney in family court said the slowdown Tuesday seemed like any other day to her.

She said she had waited for more than four hours and still had not had a courtroom assigned to her case. However, she said, for the busy civil court such delays are routine.

“It’s ridiculous trying to get a courtroom,” she said, asking that her name not be used for fear of offending the judges she works with.

No Supervisors Trained

In civil and criminal courts, the absence of about 250 court reporters created the biggest problems because no supervisors are trained to take over those jobs.

Many judges allowed proceedings to be tape-recorded instead. In the civil courts, there was so much recording going on that several courtrooms posted signs warning people to be quiet.

Some judges took an even more experimental approach.

Superior Court Judge Ryburn introduced videotape equipment to record a trial in his court Tuesday when a private court reporter could not be found.

The trial involved Security Pacific National Bank and John Gustafson, a former car dealer. Both parties had agreed to the videotaping, and attorneys supplied the camera that was trained on the front of the courtroom.

Ryburn said that in 17 years on the bench, this was the first time he had replaced a reporter with videotape.

“Now we can finish, no matter how long the reporters stay out,” said Ryburn.

Times staff writers Frederick M. Muir and Victor Merina contributed to this article.