Changes designed to unclog Riverside County Superior Court system -

Published on Saturday, March 15, 2008
By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY and TAMMY McCOY

Monday marks the start of major changes to reduce the longstanding Riverside County Superior Court backlog that has delayed justice for thousands.

The most visible change is a new department in each of the county's largest courthouses -- Riverside, Indio and the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley -- that will review select cases as early as possible to determine if they can be resolved before trial.

To staff each of the new pre-preliminary hearing courts, a judge was taken from a trial department.

"We feel there is greater value for those judges to be working on the settlement of cases rather than being trial judges," Presiding Judge Richard Fields said.

He said the average trial takes about a week of court time. "If they settle one case a week, they have paid for themselves already." Fields said he believes the judges and attorneys they work with will do better than that Read Full Article...

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