The Riverside County Superior Court is pleased to announce that the court will begin conducting civil trials this month at the recently vacated Hawthorne Elementary School in Riverside at 9174 Indiana Avenue.
According to Judicial Council records, with a shortage of 57 judicial officers, Riverside has the largest deficit of judges in the state. "Despite this challenge, the court is determined to meet its number one goal of providing fair and expeditious access to justice for all residents of the county -- and that includes our civil litigants," stated Presiding Judge Richard T. Fields.
The court has begun the process of transforming eight classrooms into three courtrooms, judges' chambers, conference room, and jury voir dire and deliberation rooms. Court personnel have already been selected for the site. The temporary courtrooms will have all the technology of a modern courtroom, such as Elmo's, document cameras that help attorneys with their case presentation, and CourtCall, a telephonic appearance service.
In September of last year, Presiding Judge Richard Fields and Assistant Presiding Judge Thomas Cahraman met with Justice Richard Huffman, of the 4th District Court of Appeal and Sheila Calabro of the Administrative Office of the Courts, and received their unequivocal support to provide three additional judges to meet the court's goal of access to civil justice. The three assigned judges will begin hearing civil trials on January 14, 2008.
