How. Low. Can. We. Go?

How. Low. Can. We. Go?

It’s no secret that California is cutting back, waaaay back, on its courts funding. This website is part of the reaction.

But a glimpse into the coming months of 2013 comes from a recent Wall Street Journal story.

“The number of locations handling small claims cases,” notes the WSJ, “will shrink from 26 to six, according to the court. Collections will be handled in just two places instead of 24. Under the courtroom reorganization plan, all personal injury cases will be concentrated at a single court downtown.”

Can you imagine? Malibu residents, long accustomed to local access, will have to haul themselves over to the Valley.

Here’s a good quote from the L.A. County Superior Court’s Presiding Judge lee Smalley that’s getting good traffic around the Internet, usually attributed to the Recorder legal website: “The difficulty I have with all of this is our court system was designed to be a neighborhood court system… unfortunately our budget has been cut so much that we’re not going to be able to continue that level of service.”

Here’s the WSJ take.