Superior Court Branch to Open : Relocation: The new office in the Municipal Court building will handle small claims and traffic cases to lighten the West District courthouse’s load.

BEVERLY HILLS —  A satellite branch of the West District Superior Court will open in the Beverly Hills Municipal Court Building on Burton Way this spring, court officials have announced.

Superior Court Judge Irving A. Shimer will move from the West District courthouse in Santa Monica to a courtroom on the third floor of the Beverly Hills building. A new Superior Court hearing room will be built on the fourth floor to handle small claims and traffic cases, with the remodeling cost of about $30,000 to be paid for by the Beverly Hills Bar Assn.

Details are still being fine-tuned and a final agreement has to be worked out between the two courts, but the branch could open as early as April, Judge Shimer said. “Opening a satellite will bring justice closer to the public,” he added.

The decision to open a satellite has taken at least 20 years, Shimer said. A retired judge from the Santa Monica court told him he had pitched the idea 20 years ago, but it was rejected.

But during the last two years, talks have been conducted in earnest because of encouragement from the state Legislature, a heavy case load and the Beverly Hills Bar Assn.’s commitment to pay for the additional courtroom.

Court officials in Santa Monica hope that opening the satellite will also allow the district to add another judge to the 15 now in Santa Monica, Shimer said. The district, which hears cases from most of the Westside, has the heaviest civil case load of any of the Los Angeles County Superior Court districts except the one in downtown Los Angeles, he said.

Westside lawyers are thrilled with the prospect of a satellite, Shimer said, because many who work in Century City, Mid-Wilshire and Beverly Hills will be able to do much of their court filing at the satellite without traveling to Santa Monica.

The filing window will start small, initially accepting pleadings from Beverly Hills, Century City and portions of West Hollywood, said Jose Guillen, Beverly Hills Municipal Court administrator.

The satellite court will hear primarily civil matters, Guillen said. Although the branch has the approval of the presiding judges, it’s a pilot program that will be evaluated six months after it opens, he said. “It might be too chaotic or too hectic and have to be scaled back.”

But the satellite is “to the advantage of both courts. All are very interested in making it work,” Guillen said.