Van Nuys Courthouse : The Struggle with Quake, Budget Woes

The seven-story Van Nuys Superior Court building has long been a San Fernando Valley landmark, a high-rise familiar to locals since 1967.

Now it’s gone national--as the backdrop for the scores of television reporters updating the story in the Menendez brothers murder case.

The TV crews will be back for another hearing Friday in the Menendez case. But there’s a long-running drama going on behind the scenes--a court forced to deal resourcefully with considerable earthquake damage and severe budget setbacks.

Quake Damage

For the courts, the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake hit hard two ways. The quake made a mess of the top few floors of the Van Nuys Superior Court building. And it virtually destroyed the San Fernando courthouse a few miles away.

The fifth and sixth floors of the Van Nuys courthouse appear back to normal. But the seventh floor, where marble was in danger of falling from the walls, is still a construction zone. Walls are propped up by wood beams and metal anchors; yellow caution tape is everywhere. The courtrooms can, however, be entered--carefully.

County officials plan to do a “full seismic survey” of the building, Court Manager Zoe Venhuizen said. No one knows when it will be completed, she said.

The San Fernando courthouse, meanwhile, is out of commission until at least next April. For the duration, the San Fernando court is operating from the Van Nuys courthouse.

Overloaded Courtrooms

* Van Nuys Superior Court cases: In fiscal year 1993, 2,032 criminal cases and 6,662 civil filings. The court utilizes an average of 338 jurors a day.

* Additional San Fernando Court cases: In fiscal 1993, 1,723 criminal and 3,141 civil filings. Space needs to be found for nine more judges, separate district attorney and public defender offices--in all, about 125 more employees.

* Superior Courtrooms: The building houses 20 courtrooms. It wasn’t enough. Judges--some assigned to Van Nuys, others to San Fernando--have been assigned to temporary trailers that ring the north and south sides of the courthouse. The seven north-side trailers, plunked down in the midst of eucalyptus and magnolia trees, are known around the court as the “treehouse.” Currently, the treehouse is home to a severe infestation of fleas. The two courtrooms in trailers on the south side have no nickname. Last week, a court clerk reported that ants had invaded one of the two makeshift courtrooms. Two more courts are in trailers across the street. Court staffers have found evidence that homeless people are camping out beneath the trailers. Once, Venhuizen said, staffers found a sleeping bag.

Budget Woes

The Van Nuys court alone is down 11 of the 42 staffers who work in the clerk’s office and jury assembly room.

“Like most government operations, there’s enough elasticity, enough tolerance, to make adjustments for budget shortfalls,” said Robert Letteau, the Van Nuys court’s supervising judge.

“But I do think,” Letteau said, “that we’ve reached the limit where we really can’t afford too many more losses.”

To make do, the court relies on help from different sources, Venhuizen said. Two workers put in 20 hours weekly to meet welfare eligibility requirements. One woman volunteers six hours a week. This summer, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles may provide three youths who will work for college credit.

Even attorneys are pitching in. Lawyers have volunteered to hear small claims appeals, settle civil cases and mediate family law cases.

An innovative domestic violence clinic, located in an office inside the second-floor cafeteria, is still open for business five mornings a week. Begun in 1992, it offers free help in filling out complicated court forms.

The court has also maintained an outreach program with James H. Monroe High School in Sepulveda, regular five-week sessions that give 10th-graders a chance to see how the courts operate.

“It all still works,” Venhuizen said. “Somehow.”