EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Lawyers Warn of Quake-Damaged Route to New Site of Child Hearings : Courts: Bar group is considering a lawsuit against a judge’s decision to move dependency cases from Lancaster to Monterey Park.

Antelope Valley parents may soon have to make a 70- to 80-mile trek over an earthquake-damaged route to attend critical child dependency hearings in Monterey Park, local attorneys warned Monday.

Members of the Antelope Valley Dependency Attorneys Bar Assn. said they are considering a lawsuit to challenge Los Angeles County Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Marcus Tucker’s recent decision to move hearings from Lancaster to distant Monterey Park. The judge said he made the decision to relocate the cases because of overcrowding.

Because of the earthquake, Tucker has delayed the transfer order for now, but Antelope Valley attorneys fear that the reprieve is only temporary.

“We believe there’s a viable federal class-action lawsuit that can be filed,” said Hans F. Berg, president of the local association, made up of attorneys who handle cases in which children are removed from their home, often amid allegations of child abuse.

Berg said he believes that parents are being denied their legal rights when key hearings are held at a court they cannot easily reach. Monterey Park, at the western edge of the San Gabriel Valley, is south of Pasadena and east of Downtown Los Angeles.

Joining Berg at a news conference Monday were the mayors of Lancaster and Palmdale, representatives of social service groups such as United Way and an aide to Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale).

Local attorneys said the drive to Monterey Park, if the parents had a car, took at least two hours before the earthquake. They estimated that it will take twice as long now.

In a prepared statement, Knight asked Tucker to rescind the transfer of cases because of the inconvenience that it will cause local parents and children, who have been able to attend hearings at the Lancaster courthouse since July.

“This discontinuance of services is not only very disturbing but is unacceptable,” Knight said, “especially in light of the earthquake, which has rendered travel to Monterey Park to be difficult, if not impossible, for most residents.”

In past years, dependency hearings for Antelope Valley families were heard in Van Nuys courtrooms. These cases were moved to the county’s new Monterey Park court complex in 1992.

But because of the soaring number of child abuse cases in the Antelope Valley and the area’s distance from Monterey Park, the county opened a satellite dependency court in Lancaster last summer. Dependency courts decide whether abused or neglected children should remain with their families or be placed elsewhere, such as in foster homes.

In a telephone interview Monday, Tucker said he decided to move all initial dependency hearings from Lancaster to Monterey Park for a three-month tryout because the small Lancaster courtroom is clogged with cases. Under his plan, a judge in Monterey Park would decide whether subsequent hearings would be held in Lancaster or Monterey Park.

“The court was being overloaded with cases in Lancaster,” he said. “The problem is the facility is inadequate.”

But Tucker added, “We obviously hadn’t counted on the earthquake. It has interrupted our experiment. Right now it’s on hold.”

The judge said he will reinstate the transfer of cases when he determines that travel conditions between Lancaster and Monterey Park have improved.

He and the Antelope Valley attorneys said the best solution would be expanded county court facilities in Lancaster.

County supervisors recently voted to postpone construction of a new Lancaster courthouse because of lack of funds. But some county officials said space could be leased elsewhere in the Antelope Valley to relieve the overcrowding.