Courts

The snowball effect of budget cuts in Los Angeles County's court system will result in a $30-billion hit to the local economy over the next four years, according to a study commissioned by the L.A. County Superior Court. The impact of closed courtrooms, increasing delays and job cuts projected in the coming years in the nation's largest trial court system will go beyond courthouse walls and lead to dramatic revenue and job losses in the legal services industry and other businesses, the study's authors found.

Palos Verdes Estates has adopted an ordinance governing the construction of sports courts in the city. The measure, which bans court lights and requires that all fencing on court perimeters be screened from public view by plantings, becomes effective May 25. The new measure also stipulates that courts occupy no more than 25% of a lot and be at least 50 feet from an adjacent house. The ordinance applies to such facilities as tennis and racquetball courts. In May, 1987, the City Council passed and let lapse a 30-day moratorium on construction of such courts.

When we examine Gov. Pete Wilson's revised state budget plan ("Revised State Budget Includes Deficit Spending," May 21) and find it devoid of any efforts to address the funding crises facing the courts, we believe that it is the courts' responsibility to explain the harsh impact of the current trial court funding proposals adopted by the Senate and Assembly. The consequences of these funding proposals are unthinkable. The governor's budget was adopted by the Senate and recently revised downward.

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians on Friday became the latest California tribe to open its own tribal court, designed to hear civil cases and give members a chance to mediate disputes within their own culture. "This is a historic day for the tribe as we constitute the first formal court system on the reservation," tribal chairman James Ramos told more than 100 guests who came to the Highland reservation to watch the swearing-in of Chief Judge Joanne Willis Newton, three appellate judges and a judge pro tem. Each judge stood in black robes before Ramos and repeated an oath to apply "the San Manuel judicial code fairly and equally to all persons who will come before this court."

Proponents of Prop. 187, including Gov. Pete Wilson and Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Palm Springs), apparently state the will of the local majority must be deferred to by our courts ("Uncertain Fate of Prop. 187 Tests Patience," March 28). According to that "logic," if a proposition passes which calls for any one of your readers to be guillotined without charges or trial, there is nothing that can be done to stop such an event. "Leaders" like Wilson and Bono have shown they have no problem with California becoming the Paris of Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities," if they can be elected by such pandering.

Palestinian human rights groups accused Hamas Islamists of undermining the rule of law in the Gaza Strip by seizing control of the legal system. Representatives of four organizations said Hamas-appointed judges last month took control of Gaza's civilian court compound and ordered other judges to answer to a chief justice appointed by the Islamist group.

A Supreme Court case testing whether a prosecutor can be sued for framing suspects for a murder ended Monday when an Iowa county agreed to pay $12 million to two men who were freed after spending 26 years in prison. In the past, the high court had said prosecutors could not be sued for doing their jobs, even if they sometimes convicted the wrong defendant. And in November, an Obama administration lawyer argued on behalf of Pottawattamie County, asserting that there is no constitutional "right not to be framed."

A Los Angeles court late Friday unsealed documents revealing details of billionaire Ronald W. Burkle's bitter divorce fight -- records that he went to extraordinary lengths over the last three years to keep private. The 1,200 pages of documents were made public two days after the California Supreme Court rejected Burkle's effort to keep them under seal, which he said was necessary to protect the safety of his children.

Tony Perry's profile of new-age merchandiser Deepak Chopra illustrates a problem more troublesome than our puerile penchant for recycled Hinduism (Nirvana Inc., Sept. 7). Wealthy bullies are increasingly using our legal system to intimidate their critics and ultimately choke off the flow of information. Because defending against even the most absurd lawsuit is so expensive, few can afford to offend a rich individual or large corporation. Our civil courts and laws should be reformed to prevent further abuse.

A federal appeals court appeared divided Thursday about whether key evidence in the Barry Bonds perjury prosecution should be kept from a jury. During a 30-minute hearing, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals considered a government appeal of a pretrial ruling excluding evidence prosecutors said would show that the former San Francisco Giants slugger lied under oath when he said he never knowingly used banned substances. Two of the court's more liberal judges, Stephen Reinhardt and Mary M. Schroeder, asked questions skeptical of the prosecution, while Judge Carlos T. Bea, a conservative, challenged a lawyer for Bonds.