New Wheels of Justice Put Gavel to the Gravel

Have gavel, will travel.

In recent years, Ventura County court officials have strived to make the justice system more accessible to the public by opening an array of self-help legal centers and information kiosks.

But this month, the judicial rubber will meet the road when a modified mobile home stocked with legal forms, brochures and computers linked to the court’s central database will hit the streets.

Staffed by attorneys and some volunteers, the Mobile Self-Help Center is designed to offer services to residents, such as the elderly and rural poor, who have difficulty reaching the county’s main courthouses in Ventura and Simi Valley.

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Although a firm schedule is still in the works, court officials plan to park the 35-foot-long mobile center outside libraries each week in Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Piru, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Ojai.

“It’s kind of the old bookmobile concept,” said Florence Prushan, assistance executive officer of the courts and the mastermind behind the project, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

The concept has so intrigued officials in other regions that Ventura County administrators plan to take their $100,000 trailer on a road trip to Scottsdale, Ariz., next month for a national conference.

Unlike other RVs it will pass on the highway, this one has no stove, refrigerator or beds. Those amenities have been replaced with wood cabinets, desks, florescent lights and office chairs.

Although the center will distribute information and allow people to check current cases through its computers, litigants will not be able to file documents or pay traffic tickets because the large white-and-blue vehicle is not equipped to collect money.

But it’s more than a paper mill. The center’s attorneys will answer legal questions and help people maneuver through the labyrinthine legal system.

The roving center is the latest outreach program offered by the Ventura County courts. Three years ago, officials launched a weekly evening clinic for people representing themselves in divorce and other family-related cases. The program was later replaced by a full-time family law center on the fourth floor of the Ventura courthouse.

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A second self-help center opened months later on the first floor to assist people with other types of cases, such as traffic violations, evictions and guardianships. Similar services are now available at a satellite clinic in the La Colonia neighborhood of Oxnard, and on a weekly basis at the Simi Valley courthouse.

Those centers serve about 2,000 people each month.

“We have had substantial interest,” said Presiding Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. “People have found them to be extremely useful.”

Eager to broaden those services, court officials considered opening centers in other cities, but the cost was prohibitive.

Enter the courtmobile.

“We thought, well, why don’t we take this on the road?” Campbell said. “It’s an extension of the concept of trying to reach out into the community and provide better access to the court system.”

An anonymous $40,000 grant launched the project, providing half the funding needed to purchase and retrofit the motor home. The county chipped in the rest, and a local car dealership, Barber Ford, donated painting costs.

Self-help center directors Tina Rasnow and Carmen Ramirez, both lawyers and past bar association presidents, are expected to be the first to take the wheel. They want to reach people who live in remote areas of the county or those who are nervous about coming to the courthouse for help.

“Going to court is intimidating,” Ramirez said, noting that her small Oxnard office even draws people from Ventura, where there is a courthouse. “I think it is because we are in a neighborhood office serving people who are primarily Spanish speaking.”

Ramirez hopes the mobile center will provide the same informal atmosphere.

Rasnow expects the center to serve the most vulnerable members of society, such as victims of domestic violence or elder abuse, who are apprehensive or physically unable to reach the main courthouses.

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In anticipation, the center will be stocked with applications for restraining orders as well as videos and brochures telling seniors how to protect themselves from scam artists and crooked caregivers. Volunteers will be on hand to explain the legal process and assist in filing out court forms.

“The need is there,” Rasnow said. “I expect that when we go out there, we are going to see more elder abuse and issues related to seniors.”

Although addressing these needs will present challenges, perhaps the greatest challenge for Rasnow will be steering the big vehicle down the highway. At 4 feet 9, Rasnow fears she may have trouble reaching the pedals.

“This is going to be a new experience for me,” she said. “I’ve never driven anything bigger than a car.”