Bench Bar Meeting: February 1, 2023
Rick Gazipura, SCCBA Director at Large and Bench Bar Liaison, submits his report from the Bench Bar meeting.
2/1/2023 Bench Bar Meeting Notes:
Assignments starting March 13, 2022
Judge Guy will be moving to felonies in Dept 3
Judge Vinluan will be moving to Juvenile Court
Judge Cogliati in Dept 6
Judge Siegel in Dept 7
Judge Burdick will be in Dept. 10
And Judges Connolly, Sheinbaum, and Vinluan will be in Watsonville
Appointments/Retirements
Congratulations to Commissioner Hansen, who has just been appointed as a new Judge,
Judge Volkmann anticipates that she will be moving into a misdemeanor assignment, possibly Dept. 1.
Congratulations also to Judge Burdick, who will be returning on May 5th. After his retirement, a visiting judge may be assigned to that department.
Judge Volkmann recognized Judge Burdick’s service as an outstanding judge, whose level of experience and talent will be missed.
State officials have indicated that Santa Cruz is on their radar as far as upcoming judicial appointments, but there is no news as to specifically when this might happen.
Status of Trials
–Civil cases are being tried by judge and jury.
–Responsiveness to jury service has been lower than pre-covid. But enough people are coming in to get juries.
–Jurors have not expressed concerns about Covid (proximity to other jurors, etc)
–Civil jury trials are currently being set in October, November, and December of 2023
–Court trials can be heard in both Dept 5 and 10. Jury trials only in Dept 5.
Judge Burdick will be doing civil trials from March 13th to his retirement on May 5th.
Judicial Mediation
–Now booked through June. These are being handled in Dept 5 and Dept 10. Post-covid there is still a very high percentage of cases being resolved (over 90%). These are currently being done by Judge Volkmann and Judge Carter.
Dept 5 has judicial mediations scheduled on the first Monday of the month; Dept 10 on the 3rd Monday of the month
CMC and law and motions calendars have will be increasingly sent to Dept 10 to give a more even split.
Court Budget
2023/2024 budget should be fine; 2024/2025 is uncertain due to possible recession