Bar Association Calls for Assigning 2 Judges to Simi Courthouse : Trials: Members say it is inconvenient to drive to Ventura for cases and that the east county building is underused.

East Ventura County residents have been sentenced to a commute and condemned to justice delayed, according to lawyers who are crusading to make the Simi Valley courthouse live up to its name.

The East Ventura County Bar Assn. is pushing to have two full-fledged judges join two lower-powered court commissioners there so that east county residents will not have to go all the way to Ventura for their criminal and civil jury trials.

County court administrators argue that there is not enough money, staff or demand for judges in Simi Valley, where the commissioners hear traffic, small claims, family and some civil cases.

But bar members say they are gathering data to prove that the underused courthouse could actually help relieve the crushing case backlog being handled by 25 judges at the Ventura County Courthouse in Ventura.

The Simi Valley courthouse “is more than ample to provide to the communities of east Ventura County a facility for civil matters, in addition to family law and small claims,” said Russell Takasugi, president of the East Ventura County Bar Assn. “This would serve . . . Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, the second- and third-largest cities in Ventura County.”

East county residents--many of whom work in Los Angeles--often lose an entire day of work to drive to the Ventura courthouse for a simple case that could be handled in less than half a day at the Simi Valley courthouse, Takasugi said.

And lawyers at the Simi courthouse often stall cases and force them into the Ventura courthouse by refusing to agree to a hearing by one of the commissioners, who have less authority than full Superior Court and Municipal Court judges, he said.

“It certainly impacts the cost of the case,” Takasugi said last week. “Now the lawyer has to drive all the way to Ventura from the client’s hometown. Most people are paying their lawyer on an hourly basis. That’s all an attorney has to sell is time and knowledge.”

The bar association is studying whether it can lobby the Legislature to hire new judges in the Simi Valley courthouse or whether existing state law can be used to force the county’s bench to transfer judges there from the main courthouse in Ventura.

“There are (state) code sections that mandate certain numbers of judges given a specific population base,” said attorney Daniel Gonzalez who is working on the study with county Supervisor Vicky Howard and another attorney. “Based on that, we feel we’re entitled to two full-fledged judges out in this end of the county.”

But court officials say they can neither spare judges from the Ventura courthouse, nor get the money to pay for new judges.

“We are not oblivious to the needs of the east county,” said Presiding Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren.

“The courthouse is where it is, and we’ll do the best we can under the limited resources we have,” said Perren, who oversees assignments on the Superior Court bench. “But there have been no new judgeships created (in California) since 1987, and it’s not likely there will be any this year given the current fiscal constraints.”

Perren said all 25 judges in Ventura County are working full time, many for 10- and 12-hour days, to handle a huge caseload that began growing even heavier last summer.

A new state “fast-track” trial law that took effect last July requires judges to try cases within a year of filing, while still processing cases already on the books, Perren said.

Cases filed last year that are due for trial are competing with older cases for the court’s attention, said Perren, who added, “It’s impossible.”

But the bar association believes the judicial pie must be better divided between east and west Ventura County, regardless of the workload and financial roadblocks, Gonzalez said.

“It really doesn’t matter what the cost is in the final analysis,” said Gonzalez, who practices family and criminal law at both courthouses. “The thing is, if we’ve got (money) to provide judicial services to all of Ventura County and one-third of the county is paying one-third of the bill, then one-third of that (money) should go to that area. It’s simple arithmetic.”

Transferring more east county cases to Simi Valley would take pressure off the Ventura courthouse, and make more use of the east county facility, Takasugi said.

“This facility was built for another purpose, and that purpose has not been fulfilled,” he said.

Right now, several offices in the $11-million building have been turned over to other county functions.

The county Correction Services Agency employs about 21 probation officers and support staff there, while the Building and Safety Division of the Resource Management Agency has about nine inspectors and other workers in Simi Valley.

There are offices for Supervisor Howard and for the county public defender.

And by August, 32 Public Social Services Agency workers will move in next door to the building inspectors to begin managing east county child welfare cases.

But while Municipal Court Commissioner John Paventi and Superior Court Commissioner John Pattie together handle hundreds of cases each week, three of the courthouse’s five courtrooms stand empty.

Court officials say the solution is not as simple as finding ways to transfer judges or hire new ones. The building, they say, is not set up for jury trials.

Unlike the courthouse in Ventura, the Simi Valley courthouse has no segregated hallways behind the courtrooms, where judges and criminal suspects can walk separately to court, said Vince Ordonez Jr., assistant executive officer of the courts.

In addition, judges must be backed up by filing clerks, a jury commissioner and other behind-the-scenes employees who keep courtrooms running, he said. And the entire computerized case-tracking system would have to be reprogrammed--at tremendous cost--to segregate east from west, he said.

“The court’s position is that until such time as the Legislature provides Ventura County with more judges, we’re not in the position to send additional judges to Simi Valley,” Ordonez said. “It would take additional resources other than a judge, an additional clerk and a bailiff. It’s not just a simple, inexpensive process.”

Presiding Judge Perren conceded that the limitations Simi Valley courthouse can be inconvenient for Simi Valley residents who have cases that have to be handled in Ventura, such as criminal arraignments and large-scale civil trials.

But he pointed out that many Thousand Oaks residents have to drive an equal distance to either courthouse--measured from a midpoint such as the intersection of Moorpark and Janss roads.

Perren added, “I’m not certain how great the need is, but the injustice is manifest if even one citizen has to drive an extra distance to have his case heard.”

Although Commissioner Pattie hears cases only two days a week in Simi Valley and works the other three days in Ventura, he said there is a demand for more extensive court services east of the Conejo Grade.

“If you had a full-service court here, I’m sure it would be used more extensively,” Pattie said. “Every vacuum gets filled. I’m sure the attorneys and the litigants would be happy to have them.”

He added, “Where’s the money come from? That’s the problem.”

Supervisor Howard said she plans to meet regularly with Gonzalez and fellow study committee member Kathleen Drury until the study, due in September, is complete. But she said she has little hope of getting money from a state Legislature that has just survived one of its most trying budget season.

“It’s a real simple situation,” she said. “We have a terrible budget situation, we don’t have any money at the state level for more judges, and until we get into a better economic situation, it’s not going to happen.”