Temporary Palm Springs Courthouse To Close

KESQ.com News Services

PALM SPRINGS -A temporary Palm Springs courthouse set up to handle a backlog of civil cases is being closed because of cost concerns and because the backlog has been reduced, Riverside County’s chief judge announced today.

The Autry Court, set up in September 2008 in the Gene Autry Trail Business Park at 3700 Tachevah Drive, was never intended to be a permanent facility, said Judge Thomas Cahraman.

A single judge was assigned to the court to focus exclusively on civil proceedings at a time the county had a record backlog of criminal cases.

The state supplemented the county’s 76 jurists with a team of retired and active-duty judges from across California, most of whom spent three-to-five months in Riverside hearing criminal cases.

Since then, caseloads have dropped and a dozen judges are presiding over civil matters, including jurists assigned to the recently renovated Palm Springs Courthouse on Tahquitz Canyon Way.

“At the time we opened Autry, many litigants would have had justice denied had we not opened that courthouse,” said Cahraman.

The judge said a civil trial had not been postponed for lack of court space since June 15 of last year.

With some of the strain taken off local judicial resources and “budget difficulties” an ongoing issue, “the decision to close the Autry courthouse (is) a prudent one,” said Cahraman.

The judge welcomed public input on the planned closure.