Court Calendars

* Your Nov. 2 article concerning the civil lawsuit filed against entertainer Michael Jackson contains a significant misstatement: “Civil court dockets in the Los Angeles area are so crowded that it often takes up to five years for a case to get to trial.” The truth of the matter is that the time to trial in Los Angeles County is now less than two years, thanks to a joint effort of the Bar and the Superior Court in the implementation of the fast-track system where each judge assigned to a civil courtroom assumes full responsibility for the control of his or her calendar. Perhaps your writer was confused by the statutes that allow for the dismissal of lawsuits not brought to trial by the parties within five years.

Repetition of this misstatement in the future mistakenly tarnishes the image of the civil justice system and unfairly ignores the often herculean efforts of our bench officers in this day and age where public servants are expected to shoulder ever-increasing caseloads with diminishing resources.

LANCE A. ITO

Assistant Supervising Judge

Criminal Division

Los Angeles Superior Court