COUNTYWIDE : Efficiency Stressed in New Court System

More than 100 attorneys and paralegals packed a courtroom in the Hall of Justice on Wednesday to hear Ventura County judges tell them that they are going to have to be more efficient to function under an imminent “fast-track” civil litigation system in the county’s Superior Court.

“You’re in a sprint,” Presiding Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren told the gathering in Courtroom 22. “It’s not a nice stroll in the park anymore.”

The Civil Differential Case Management Program, as it is called, is mandated by state law to be in place by July 1. Other counties, such as Los Angeles, already have implemented it. A similar program for Ventura County Municipal Court was put in place last year.

The aim of the fast-track system is to reduce the maximum period it takes to dispose of a civil case from five years to one year in most instances. To do this, attorneys will have to meet a new set of accelerated deadlines after filing a lawsuit or face sanctions imposed by the judges.

Superior Court Judge Richard D. Aldrich, who is supervising the new system, told the lawyers that the accelerated pace may be “most difficult on small, high-volume law offices.”