Computerized Docket

To get a personal-injury suit to jury trial in the nation's clogged state courts now takes an average of 20 months. The rising crush of auto-accident cases causes big-city litigants to face delays ranging from 21 years in Boston to more than five years in Chicago. Uncounted civil cases are now decided long after the witnesses and even the principals have died. All of which leads many a citizen to settle out of court for less than his due--or give up entirely. Thus court congestion is unquestionably subverting U.S. justice.

If the speedup record of the Los Angeles County Superior Court is any guide, the problem is far more soluble than it seems. The Los Angeles court and its eight branches is the largest of its kind in the U.S.--a $10 million-a-year operation with jurisdiction over all of the mammoth county's felony cases, plus probate, domestic relations and civil suits involving claims exceeding $5,000. Each year the court gets about 10,000 more cases than the year before; last year the total hit 180,000. By 1964 the court was flooded with an average monthly backlog of 21,803 cases. Today that figure has dropped to 8,900 and, equally dramatic, the average delay in getting a civil case to jury trial has plummeted from 23 months to a mere six.

Guaranteed Preparation. The big change is all due to a few surprisingly simple reforms devised two years ago by the then presiding judge, Kenneth N. Chantry, the current presiding judge, Lloyd S. Nix, and the court's executive officer, Edward C. Gallas. The prime principle behind the speedup is that the judges need no longer waste everybody's time granting lawyers postponement after postponement as they claim a need to "discover" more facts about an opponent's case, get themselves absurdly scheduled to appear in several different courts at once, or put forward any old excuse as they jockey for assignment to a judge they like better. In Los Angeles, no trial is scheduled until both sides' lawyers agree that they are prepared to be present in the courtroom. At that point, the lawyers sign a "certificate of readiness" and a later memorandum fully describing the case, asserting that all pretrial motions have been made, swearing that no settlement is in sight, and estimating precisely how long the trial will take.

While Los Angeles cannot claim to have invented the certificate of readiness, it makes unusual use of it. The court's master calendar department feeds these details into a computer along with each lawyer's schedule for the next three months, then chooses a desirable trial date which is smoothly coordinated with all other trial dates throughout the court. Trials estimated to last fewer than five hours get a date immediately. In the central court in downtown Los Angeles, civil trials of any length at all are now put on the schedule within a day after the computer does its work.

Back to the Machine. Los Angeles lawyers, to be sure, are still allowed to arrive at trial and ask for continuances, but judges now accept only substantial excuses, such as the unavoidable absence of expert medical witnesses. Continuances are granted in only 20% of civil suits, almost half the previous rate, and it may not pay to get one. Lawyers who are not ready must report back to the computer, and wait as long as three months for another trial. By contrast, the court stresses the constitutional right to speedy trial in criminal cases by guaranteeing that any defendant can face a jury within 60 days.

In 1964, many of the court's judges fought the reforms out of pure distaste for change--and some plaintiffs' lawyers still feel that the speedup keeps them from fully preparing cases. Even so, most lawyers seem to agree that justice no longer delayed is justice no longer denied. Presiding Judge Nix happily reports that "each and every judge" now supports the system, while admiring judicial visitors flow in from other states and foreign countries.

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