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Posted July 26, 2018 in Court Updates
Beginning August 1, 2018, the Los Angeles Superior Court will charge an eFiling service fee of $1.75 for each transaction, pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 2.253 and rule 2.506.
Posted May 17, 2018 in Court Updates
The Los Angeles Superior Court will begin hearing cases at the Spring Street Courthouse, located at 312 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, 90012, on April 16, 2018. The complex litigation program will relocate from the Central Civil West Courthouse. Personal injury, settlement and some trial and long cause trial courts will relocate from the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.
Although there will be a small clerk’s office at the Spring Street location, all document filings for those courtrooms must be filed at the Stanley Mosk 
Courthouse – 111 N. Hill St., Los Angeles, 90012. The only exceptions are for same day ex-parte applications and documents filed for trials in progress.
Courtesy or bench copies of filed documents must be delivered to the appropriate courtroom at the Spring Street Courthouse and will not be accepted at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse with the original filings.
Future hearings scheduled in the courtrooms relocating will be conducted as scheduled, on the same date and time, at the new courthouse. For example, if a hearing was scheduled in Dept. 309 at 10:00 a.m. on April 17, 2018, the matter will be heard in Dept. 12 at Spring Street on the same date and time.
The Spring Street Courthouse remains a federal government facility and entry into the building requires a valid form of photo identification (such as a driver’s license, California state-issued identification card or passport). Anyone not possessing this type of identification will be escorted into the building by a court employee.
Building hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except court holidays. There is no public parking at the courthouse, however, pay lots are available nearby and throughout the downtown area. The DASH bus services the downtown/civic center area for a minimal fee and the Metro Rail Civic Center/Grand Park station is less than three blocks away.
The information provided in this notice is accurate as of March 28, 2018. Further information, including courtroom telephone numbers, will be published as it becomes available and will be posted on the Court’s website at lacourt.org.
If you have questions, please contact court staff in the appropriate courtroom.
Posted March 27, 2018 in Court Updates
By Mark Schwartz
Many of you are likely aware of the “electronic goings on” at the Los Angeles Superior Court. For both you, and for those of you who may not be as plugged in as you wish, my hope is that this article will provide you with some additional/helpful information on how things started and where they are going, in one of the largest (if not the largest) court jurisdictions in the world.
eFiling began in earnest in LA on May 1, 2017. By “earnest” I mean an integrated system with an EFM sitting between the court’s CMS and EFSPs.
1. EFM – Electronic Filing Manager. It’s the hardware and software that sits between the courts.
2. CMS – Case Management System. It’s the hardware and software that allows the court to manage its cases, hearings, etc.
3. EFSP – Electronic Filing Service Provider. That’s us. You could say that we are today’s modern version of an attorney service.
Now that’s not entirely true (today’s version of an attorney service, that is) because there are some things, certainly, that electronic filing ecosystems cannot do, or more appropriately said, that a law firm cannot do with the system. Paper courtesy copies (yes, many judges and justices still want paper) can’t be sent electronically. Some courts (most, in fact) do not allow previously filed documents to be available via an EFSPs platform (except those eFiled with that EFSP); besides the technical reasons they need the revenue. Some documents (I call them “exception documents”) must be filed or delivered physically – either the court (or the system) has not yet figured out to process (no pun intended) them well, or at all. For example, a certain county recorder or sheriff may not honor an electronically-issued abstract or writ — still some challenges to be sure. That, however, is a story for another day.
Let’s get back to LA. On March 1, 2016, the court jumped into the eFiling fray with a pilot project. That e-Delivery project (e-Delivery = upload documents via a custom portal and then behind the scenes the clerks print and file just like over-the-counter filings) was small in scope, i.e. for general jurisdiction personal injury cases in certain courtrooms, but it was a start. Pilots like this give the vendor, in this instance Journal Technologies, Inc. (JTI), and the court, a chance to test the waters, if you will.
On May 1, 2017, the court went live with Probate eFiling, and in this case (pun intended this time), not to make things more complicated, it did so with another CMS/EFM vendor: Tyler Technologies. Its product is called OdysseyefileCA, and eighteen (18) other courts are utilizing it, some since 2015. Los Angeles later mandated eFiling (June of the same year) for Probate case types.
By the way, there are now fifty-seven (57) EFSPs in the Tyler landscape, many of whom are CALSPro members. Congratulations to those of you who made the leap!
Next in line, you ask? That would be Family Law. Again, this implementation will be with Tyler and it’s scheduled for April or May of this year. Tyler recently socialized a date of May 7th, but the court’s team still has not socialized a specific date and instead is advising of a date sometime in April or May. As I like to say: the situation is fluid and ever-changing. If all goes well, though, we’ll see eFiling in Family Law case types sometime this spring or early summer, with a mandate to follow approximately one (1) month later.
That brings me to the biggie: Civil. Right now, many EFSPs are working with JTI (remember, JTI is handling Civil cases) to be certified for a June go-live, for Limited jurisdiction cases. A mandate is expected about one (1) month later. After that, the court is planning on a July mandate (no voluntary, or permissive, period) for Complex Civil cases and then, assuming all goes smoothly with Ltd. and Complex, the court will enable the rest of Civil (i.e. Unlimited Jurisdiction cases) in August. Again, a mandate is planned for roughly thirty (30) days later. I want to caution you against relying too heavily on these dates. Instead, think of them as placeholders for now and keep an eye on the Odyssey eFileCA site and the court’s eFiling page.
So, there you have it! It’s been a long time coming, no doubt. For legal support professionals like myself, who’ve been around since the 70’s, it’s a pretty amazing thing to see happening. I realize, also, that it’s a bit daunting. It takes a lot of planning to prepare for such a sea-change so if you haven’t already jumped on the boat, now’s the time to get on board. You too can be relevant in the digital age! Let me know what I can do to help.
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About the author:
Mark Schwartz, currently One Legal’s Court Relationship Manager, has been with the company since early 2009 and has worn many hats during his tenure there. He started in the attorney service business in 1975 and has worn many hats since that time as well, including court runner and process server.
Posted September 24, 2014 in Conference, Education, Membership
Los Angeles Superior Court Notices To Attorneys
Public Information Office
Website: www.lasuperiorcourt.org
E-mail Address: PublicInfo@LASuperiorcourt.org
Probate Division Judicial Changes In Effect Sept. 15 At Mosk Courthouse
Central Civil West Courthouse Announces Complex Litigation Judicial Changes
Family Law Judicial Assignment Change At Mosk
Probate Division Makes Bench Officer Changes At Mosk Courthouse
Downey Courthouse Reassigns Felony, Traffic, Misdemeanor & Infraction Cases Probate Division Makes Bench Officer Changes At Mosk Courthouse
Posted June 24, 2014 in Conference, Education, Membership
Los Angeles Superior Court News Release
Public Information Office
Website: www.lasuperiorcourt.org
E-mail Address: PublicInfo@LASuperiorcourt.org
STATEMENT FROM LOS ANGELES SUPERIOR COURT
PRESIDING JUDGE DAVID S. WESLEY
REGARDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2014-15 TRIAL COURT BUDGET
Over the past weeks, courts across the state have made clear to the legislature that the level of court funding proposed in the Governor’s May Revision will result in further declines in access to justice across the state. Yet that is the level of funding that is in the budget that Governor Jerry Brown signed today.
Posted February 21, 2014 in Conference, Education, Membership
Los Angeles Superior Court News Release
Public Information Office
Website: www.lasuperiorcourt.org
E-mail Address: PublicInfo@LASuperiorcourt.org
Effective March 1, 2014, the North District will resume handling filings and pre-trial matters in unlimited jurisdiction personal injury cases at the Antelope Valley Courthouse.
Personal injury cases are defined as:
“An unlimited civil action described on the Civil Case Cover Sheet Addendum and Statement of Location (LACIV 109) as Motor Vehicle – PI/Property Damage/Wrongful Death; PI/Property Damage/Wrongful Death – Uninsured Motorist; Product Liability (not asbestos or toxic/environmental); Medical Malpractice – Physicians & Surgeons; Other Professional Health Care Malpractice; Premises Liability; Intentional Bodily Injury/Property Damage/Wrongful Death); or Other PI/Property Damage/Wrongful Death. Actions for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, civil rights/discrimination and malpractice other than medical malpractice are not included in this definition. Actions for injury to real property are not included in this definition.”
The courtrooms these cases will be assigned to will adjudicate all pretrial matters, they will not conduct trials. On the trial date, the courtroom will transfer the case to the Master Calendar Court in Department 1 in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Department 1 will then assign the case out for trial to one of the 31 dedicated Trial Courtrooms located throughout the county.
NEW FILINGS
Effective March 1, 2014, PI cases must be filed in one of two locations:
• Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street, Room 102, Los Angeles, CA 90012; or
• Antelope Valley Courthouse, 42011 4th Street West, Lancaster, CA 93534
Whether a case must be filed at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse or the Antelope Valley Courthouse can be determined by consulting the Filing Court Locator on the court’s website (www.lasuperiorcourt.org > About the Court > Locations > Filing Court Locator). The search can be done using the city/community, zip code, or both.
TRANSFER OF CASES
Cases Filed in the North District Prior to March 18, 2013
Effective April 1, 2014, all general jurisdiction PI cases that were previously transferred in 2013 from the Antelope Valley Courthouse to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse as a result of the case consolidation will be transferred back to the Antelope Valley Courthouse. Existing court dates will remain set on the dates previously noticed, unless otherwise ordered by the court. The Court will send notice prior to April 1 regarding these reassignments.
Cases Filed at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse Between March 18, 2013 and February 28, 2014
Effective April 1, 2014, all general jurisdiction PI cases filed in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse between March 18, 2013 and March 31, 2014, that can be identified as Antelope Valley cases (per the Filing Court Locator) will be transferred to the Antelope Valley Courthouse. Existing court dates will remain set on the dates previously noticed, unless otherwise ordered by the court. The Court will send notice prior to April 1 regarding these reassignments.
This information is also available on the Los Angeles Superior Court website www.lasuperiorcourt.org.
Posted January 10, 2014 in Conference, Education, Membership
Los Angeles Superior Court News Release
Public Information Office
Website: www.lasuperiorcourt.org
E-mail Address: PublicInfo@LASuperiorcourt.org
Effective January 1, 2014
The Los Angeles Superior Court Fee Schedule has been changed to reflect the various changes in Civil, Family Law, and Probate filing fees which have increased or changed as a result of recent legislation.|
New Fees
Increased Fees
Amended Language re Existing Fee
Note, in October 2013, Government Code section 68086(a)(1), was amended to change the description for reasonable costs of official court reporting services, provided pursuant to Section 269 of the Code of Civil Procedure as follows:
$764 for services of an official court reporter for proceedings lasting four hours or more.
Posted January 10, 2014 in Education, Legislation, Membership
Los Angeles Superior Court News Release
Public Information Office
Website: www.lasuperiorcourt.org
E-mail Address: PublicInfo@LASuperiorcourt.org
Jan, 9, 2014
Statement from Presiding Judge David S. Wesley
Today, I along with Assistant Presiding Judge Carolyn Kuhl and Executive Officer/Clerk Sherri R. Carter, issued the following statement in response to the Governor’s proposed budget.
The Governor’s budget proposal released today includes an increase of $100 million for trial court operations. We are heartened that Governor Jerry Brown recognizes that, after sharing so much of the devastating cuts to state government over the past 5 years, the trial courts should be part of the investment he is making in shoring up California’s infrastructure.
This is the beginning of the budget process, not the end. So we cannot be certain what the Governor’s proposal will mean for our Court for several months.
Nonetheless, it is important to put this proposal in context. As currently stated, the increased funding may prove adequate to cover our Court’s existing unfunded costs and anticipated cost increases for the next fiscal year. If there is funding available after covering those costs, our first priority would be to sufficiently staff the Consolidation Plan we put in place last Spring. Under the Consolidation Plan, our Court maintains courtrooms in every case type, continues to provide self-help services, maintains access to domestic violence and civil harassment orders, and otherwise maintains the full spectrum of adjudicative functions (including, for instance, small claims).
Unfortunately, given a required 25% reduction in staff, we are only able to maintain access to justice at the price of widespread delays and backlogs. Any additional available funding, combined with the aggressive program of reengineering and restructuring currently underway, should allow our Court to significantly reduce the largest and most troubling backlogs and delays.
We remain committed to providing the level of accessibility to justice in the Los Angeles Superior Court that litigants, attorneys and the public deserve and we hope that this budget year proves to the be first step down that path.”
Posted December 31, 2013 in Membership
Los Angeles Superior Court
Public Information Office
NOTICE TO ATTORNEYS
Dec. 30, 2013
Changes in the General Jurisdiction Personal Injury (PI) Courtrooms
Effective Jan. 6, 2014, the following changes will be implemented in the general jurisdiction Personal Injury (PI) Courtrooms at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 N. Hill St., Los Angeles 90012.
Posted September 5, 2013 in Membership
Los Angeles Superior Court News ReleaseLong Beach – The new Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse will open for business on Monday, Sept. 9, 2013. Located at 275 Magnolia Ave., between West Broadway and West Third St. in Long Beach, the new courthouse replaces the 55 year-old Long Beach Courthouse at 415 W. Ocean Blvd…
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