ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Coming In From the Golf Course

It still will take too long for many litigants involved in civil lawsuits to get their day in court, but the innovative compromise agreed to this week by the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the county’s Superior Court system will help ease the logjam.

The key to unclogging the local court process is providing more judges. Based on state standards and the existing caseload, Orange County should have 20 to 25 more judges. But there have been no new judicial appointments in the county in more than four years. And the prospect of getting more, along with the funds for their salaries, staffs, courtrooms and other expenses, remains grim.

The solution seems so simple, but it makes sense: Tap the wisdom of some retired judges, who, perhaps having had their fill of life on the golf course, are eager to hear cases again, if only on a part-time basis. They will work for a flat daily rate, without benefits. What a good idea to mobilize this ready and seasoned judicial pool in a crisis.

Meanwhile, the backlog continues to grow. Court officials report there are more than twice as many cases awaiting trial as there were a year ago. That prompted one frustrated court administrator to admit that “right now . . . we’re not performing our duties under the Constitution satisfactorily.”

But now, at least, the average waiting period could be cut to less than two years, from the current average of 3 1/2 years for a case to come to trial. That is still a long time for a lawsuit to sit and wait, but it’s a major improvement, considering the serious shortage of state and county funds available to support the court system.

The compromise will cost the county about $3 million more for judges and support staff for the next fiscal year. But it will keep the courts operating on much less money than it would take to hire new, full-time judges.

The court also will continue to work to improve its management techniques, and urge the public to use arbitration and mediation of disputes instead of rushing into court.

But as long as the public continues on its litigious ways, the pressure will continue to grow for more judges and courtrooms, and more scarce public money to operate them.