Supervising Judge Hurwitz’s April 14, 2020 Announcement

Editorial note: This is a copy and paste of an announcement by Supervising Judge, Lon Hurwitz.

Updating you on the current status of the Family Law Courts in Orange County, I can report that as of yesterday, March 13 [Editorial note, His Honor meant April 13], we have the following:

1. 7,360 documents in the que for filing. This does not include DV’s which continue to be filed, DCSS filings, Judgments, Adoptions, or matters pending in each Courtroom.
2. These are the documents submitted between March 17 and yesterday, April 13; 19 Court days, or an average of 387 submissions per day.
3. 1,585 Judgments pending processing. Of these, 200 pre-existed the March 17 closure. So 1,385 submitted Judgments over 19 days is approx.. 73 per day.
4. There are 200 Minute Orders needing completion since March 17.
5. There are 1,234 Exhibits that need to be returned.
6. There are 178 Orders pending processing in the Courtrooms.

It will take 12 to 13 Clerks at least 3 weeks working full time to process the 7,360 documents in the que.

It will take 4 Clerks at least 4 weeks working full time to process the Judgments.

And that is if we reopened tomorrow. Each day that we have to remain closed, we add 460 additional submissions/judgments to the processing issue.

That is not to say we should be open. Clearly, at this time, we have no choice.

Additionally:

We have trailed/continued over 10,000 previously scheduled Hearings.

Before this crisis, we were going to lose 5 Clerks in the month of March to retirement.

Once our Court reopens, there will be an enormous and serious backlog in our Criminal Courts, which will, undoubtedly, require many reassignments of Judicial Officers to address.

We cannot predict how that might affect our Family Law Courts.

As a result of all of the above, all of you, and your clients, should seriously consider what the future might look like in terms of their ability to obtain an expeditious resolution of any non-emergent matter.

While none of us can predict when we will reopen, or what things will look like when we reopen.

I believe the evidence of what is to come is so overwhelming that to reject any attempt at resolving your cases now may prove to be a serious mistake in the future.

Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Dan Boehm, Dan Monarch, Judge Silbar, and 27 of your fellow Family Law Lawyers who have volunteered as Temporary Judges to help you get your cases settled,

You have a unique “moment in time” opportunity to get as much settled as you can. The uncertainty of the current situation provides both sides with the incentive to resolve their issues.

Please seriously consider our videoconference VSC Program.

I Hope that all of you to remain safe and healthy.

Best,

Lon Hurwitz