Judge Halts Suspension of U.S. Civil Jury Trials

A judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday temporarily blocked plans to suspend federal court civil jury trials in Southern California due to federal budget cutbacks.

The suspension of new jury trials in civil cases was to begin Monday and last until Oct. 1, unless Congress approved stopgap funding to pay additional juror fees.

Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt issued the order Monday morning after he was brought an emergency petition Sunday afternoon by attorney Stephen Yagman, who said he had nine new jury trials scheduled to begin in federal court between June 16 and Oct. 1.

The order applies to courts in the federal central district of California, which includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

Response Ordered

Reinhardt ordered the U.S. attorney’s office to file a response by Wednesday to Yagman’s request to have the order made permanent. Reinhardt scheduled oral arguments on the issue Thursday at the Pasadena offices of the appellate court.

The moratorium on new trials was announced last week by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in Washington. The office cited funding shortfalls caused in part by the Gramm-Rudman budget-balancing bill.

Federal court jurors are paid $30 a day, plus mileage. The nationwide cost of jury trials is $52,000 a day, and the court administrative office in Washington reported last week that 1,200 trials could be affected if the suspension lasted until Oct. 1.

The executive officer for the central district courts, Jack Cocks, said six trials scheduled to start this week were suspended because of the budget cuts.

Cocks said none of the suspended trials would be started before the hearing Thursday, which he said he hoped would resolve what he called a dilemma caused by Reinhardt’s order.

“If the (court administrative) office tells us we have no money to spend and the circuit court tells us to spend anyway, we have a real dilemma,” Cocks said.

The problem could be resolved if Congress passes and President Reagan signs pending legislation to give the federal courts $3.8 million to carry them through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Cocks said the Urgent Supplemental Appropriations bill has been passed by both the House and Senate and is in a conference committee.