Mobile justice

It may not seem like it, but I do like to give credit where it’s due. So this week I’m giving kudos to the Los Angeles Superior Court for actually coming up with a very cool thing: a traveling court “pop-up exhibit” called Court Commons.

It’s sort of an interactive court museum with fun exhibits and self-help resources “housed in a custom-built trailer that extends into 2,000 square feet of exhibition space.”

It’s a judicial Transformer!

And, best of all, there’s the “Wear the Robe” experience in which you can put on “a judicial robe and pose in front of an illustrated courtroom bench.”

You can’t do that at Disneyland.

I’m very much in favor of this concept — but there is a problem. (You knew this was coming.) Great ideas are wasted if they only benefit a few.

The penultimate paragraph of the court’s announcement describes the problem: “The largest trial court in the nation, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County serves a population of almost 10 million in 36 courthouses with a jurisdiction covering over 4,000 square miles that includes 88 cities, 140 unincorporated areas and dozens of law enforcement agencies.”

What percentage of those 10 million residents do you think are going to get the benefit of this fancy thing? I’m guessing it’s a small percentage even after decades of travel.

So what should the court do?

It’s easy: Build hundreds of these things and fan them out across the landscape.

You’re probably thinking this is impractical and expensive. Well, yes, it is expensive but not impractical if the correct bold steps are taken.

All you have to do is raise the money for the trailers by selling the courthouses. Then load judges onto the trailers and have them conduct hearings and trials at exhibit stops. This way not only can visitors learn about the judicial system but they can also watch it in action.

There are other obvious advantages to this. Litigants and court personnel will drastically cut wasted commute time either by traveling to a mobile court near their homes or hopping on the exhibit in transit.

If a defendant flees the courtroom, the courtroom can come after the defendant. Picture a court barreling down the 405 after a white Bronco. I’d watch that live Action News coverage.

The Court Commons could visit the scenes of crime or property disputes. No need for unreliable scene descriptions.

And, best of all, court visitors can Wear the Robe and pose with a real judge.

Additional revenue should be raised by charging for autographs.

Chutzpah of the week. This is from a ruling last week by a federal judge in Northern California on a proposed settlement with LinkedIn that included only a three-year injunction:

“Plaintiffs claim this is virtually all they could have achieved at trial, understating the fact that they have sacrificed the class members’ damages claims before even attempting to certify a damages class. In contrast to this limited relief, plaintiffs’ counsel stands to walk away with attorneys’ fees of $4,000,000.”

We now have a new definition for “money for nothing.”

No, the judge didn’t approve it.