Lack of Funds to Pay Jurors Can’t Halt Civil Jury Trials, Court Rules

Any suspension of civil jury trials in federal courts in Los Angeles and across the nation because of a shortage of funds to pay jurors is unconstitutional, three judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday in an advisory opinion.

“We conclude that the civil jury trial system may not be suspended for lack of funds,” wrote Judge Stephen Reinhardt on behalf of himself and Warren Ferguson and Senior Circuit Judge Oliver Koelsch.

The circuit judges stopped short of ordering the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California to hold civil jury trials, as requested by a Los Angeles attorney seeking to block actions by judicial officials in Washington.

Central District Presiding Judge Manuel L. Real said he has no control over whether civil jury trials will begin here immediately. It is up to each district court judge to decide what to do about his or her calendar of cases, he said.

Jack Cocks, district executive for Los Angeles federal court, said the problem may fade away if a $3.2-million appropriation bill for the courts is signed into law soon. The measure has been passed by the House and was scheduled to go to the Senate shortly.

The legal hassle began about two weeks ago when the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference through administrative officials advised U.S. District Courts that a suspension of civil jury trials was required from June 16 to Oct. 1, partly because of a fund shortage caused by the Gramm-Rudman budget-control law.

Westwood Attorney Stephen Yagman, who represents clients in nine civil rights cases filed against police and sheriff’s departments, asked the appeals court for a stay blocking any suspension of civil jury trials despite the lack of funds. The court issued an immediate stay on June 11.

In agreeing with Yagman, Reinhardt wrote that constitutional rights do not depend on the rise and fall of account balances in the Treasury. He said:”Our basic liberties cannot be offered and withdrawn as ‘budget crunches’ come and go, nor may they be made contingent on transitory political judgments. . . .

“The constitutional mandate that federal courts provide civil litigants with a system of civil jury trials is clear. There is no price tag on the continued existence of that system, or on any other constitutionally provided right.”

At least six civil jury trials in Los Angeles were delayed during the week of June 16.