Retired Judge Hunter Still Working Hard : Courts: The jurist is heading the panel on pay for county officials. He is implementing a program to speed civil litigation.

Only five months ago, John J. Hunter’s 22-year career in public life appeared to be nearing an end, when Ventura County voters soundly rejected his bid for a seat on the Superior Court.

Since then, however, the Judicial Council of California has assigned the retired Municipal Court judge to help clear a backlog of Superior Court civil cases. As part of the temporary assignment, Hunter is implementing a long-awaited program aimed at speeding up civil litigation.

And today, the 56-year-old jurist assumes an even higher profile when he convenes the first meeting of a citizens committee that will examine the pay and benefits of top county employees. The Board of Supervisors appointed the panel last month in response to criticism of the bonuses and other benefits given to the supervisors and key administrators.

Hunter said he is “slightly in the dark” about just what the nine-member panel he chairs will do.

“I think we’re supposed to look at the benefit packages of county department heads and supervisors,” he said. “I suspect that we will be comparing them with other like jobs.”

Whatever the commission does, it will probably be done quickly, he said. “We’ll meet every Monday about six times, and that’ll be it,” Hunter said.

A reputation for speed and organization makes Hunter a strong choice to head the panel, longtime associates say.

“He’s a doer,” said courts administrator Sheila Gonzalez, whose pay and benefits will come under the panel’s scrutiny. “He does not procrastinate. He likes to tie up loose ends.”

But Hunter has also been criticized over the years as being arbitrary in his rulings. In a Ventura County Bar Assn. poll earlier this year, attorneys gave Hunter the lowest overall score among Municipal Court judges.

Steven Z. Perren, the Superior Court’s presiding judge, said he had no qualms about asking the Judicial Council to name Hunter to the temporary Superior Court job, even though Hunter lost by nearly a 2-1 margin in the June primary for a six-year term on the court. The winner was Municipal Judge Ken W. Riley.

“Two qualified people ran for the office,” Perren said. “One was elected, one was not. He is doing an absolutely marvelous job for us. . . . If he wasn’t here, we would be in very, very bad shape.”

Hunter’s appointment continues until the end of the year, but Hunter said it will probably be extended into next year as the court struggles to reduce the backlog of cases. “They could have me here forever,” he said.

Hunter earns $397 a day and must buy his own health insurance. When he turns 60 in four years, he can begin drawing retirement pay--75% of a Municipal Court judge’s salary, or about $67,500 a year.

In 1970, Hunter was the youngest judge in California when former Gov. Ronald Reagan named the 33-year-old attorney to the Municipal Court. Over the years, Hunter gained a reputation as a take-charge judge who kept cases moving through the system, often by keeping a tight rein on how attorneys presented their cases. Critics said he also could be impatient with defendants who represented themselves.

Earlier this year, Hunter jailed an 83-year-old Ojai man for five days for contempt of court after the man vehemently complained about a traffic fine. A string of such incidents over the years led to Hunter’s inclusion in a much-publicized 1989 article in the now-defunct California magazine, titled “The 10 Wackiest Judges in California.”

Hunter has acknowledged that his style did not endear him to everyone in the legal community. In the bar association poll of attorneys made public in May, Hunter was faulted for lacking impartiality, settlement skills and a good demeanor.

“That has not been my experience in dealing with him,” said Thomas Lynn Hinkle, a Ventura attorney who has worked with Hunter on ways to reduce delays in civil cases. “He was always extremely fair, very attentive.”

Hunter’s fellow judges on the Municipal Court elected him presiding judge three times. He also became known statewide as an expert on civil litigation, and he periodically teaches courses on civil law to new judges.

In recent years, Hunter has been the architect of the “fast-track” case-management system that seeks to dramatically speed up the progress of civil cases through the courts. Since the system was instituted in the Municipal Court in early 1991, 97% of civil cases have been resolved within a year.

The program, which began in the Superior Court on July 1, uses computers to make sure attorneys meet deadlines for the various steps in getting a case to trial. In addition, Hunter decides all the pretrial motions associated with new cases. That means several hundred cases cross his desk each month.

“He works very fast,” said Carol Knopf, an attorney who helps Hunter manage the fast-track system. “He reviews everything that comes across his desk immediately. . . . He has the neatest office I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Hunter said he always planned to continue working as a retired judge after leaving his Municipal Court seat. Hunter and his wife, Louine, who live in Ojai, have 10 children.

“I have five kids in college,” the judge said. “They demand money. Old Dad is going to be working for quite a while.”