Legal News

Recession?s Impact Working its Way to State Courts

By Ashby Jones

The Great Global Recession of 2007-2009 led to layoffs, unprecedented financial losses, and countless bankruptcies. But the financial toil hasn’t disrupted the slow hand of justice, has it?

According to a recent story in the USA Today, indeed it has. Legal experts tell the paper that financial shortfalls in state budgets have led to layoffs and courtroom closings across the country. And that’s led to court delays.

According to the story:

At least 15 states have put court workers on furloughs, eight have cut pay, six have imposed layoffs, and six have closed courtrooms to save money in the face of state funding cuts, even as the number of legal cases is rising, according to the Virginia-based National Center for State Courts.

According to the story, the impact has been felt most severely in California, where courts are closed across the state one day a month. The state’s budget crisis has cut $133 million from the Los Angeles court system’s $800 million budget. In response, Los Angeles last month began laying off 829 court employees, and by the end of the year expects what once was a 5,400-worker system to be reduced by about 20%.

For now, it’s not like the courtrooms have completely shut down. But it does sound like pretty basic business is not getting done, or at least getting done very slowly. According to the story:

Outside Los Angeles’ main traffic courthouse, lines of people trying to pay or contest citations routinely stretch around the block. On a recent afternoon, more than 400 people were still in line when the courts closed for the evening.

“If we do not find adequate solutions to these difficult problems, not just the folks in California but elsewhere will find the courts simply cannot be responsive to their needs as in the past,” McCoy said. “And that’s a real tragedy for all of us.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 02, 2010 (boomark / email).