Need for a Nearby U.S. District Court

Re “Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties Need a New Court” (Feb. 16): From personal experience in a civil federal case filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, I unequivocally concur with Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) that a “separate and fully equipped federal district court” in the tri-county area “would make it easier for these residents to litigate a grievance in federal court.”

The “small branch court in Santa Ana” is (at present) just that--a small branch court. In the interest of justice, fair play, due process and incorporating the rationale of forum inconvenience . . . I argued in court papers filed with the court in Los Angeles that the matter would be best heard in the U.S. District Court branch in Santa Ana.

The U.S. attorney’s office shot back in court papers that the case was properly filed in Los Angeles because of an “intra-district civil case assignment rule issued by the Clerk of Court for the Central District on January 4, 1988.” The clerk’s rule won (surprise, surprise) over the interests of justice and other American justice-system platitudes.

Truly, the “longer trips” to Los Angeles instead of Santa Ana mean substantially higher costs and, at least in my case, meant diminished prospects of successfully “petitioning the government for a redress of grievances”--a First Amendment right--in court.

The drive to the downtown Los Angeles U.S. District Courthouse to file an answer and cross-claim at 312 N. Spring St. and back was a long, slow, bumper-to-bumper round-trip trying experience. I was financially ill-equipped to litigate the matter in Los Angeles.

The sad result was that though I explained in court papers to the court why I could not afford to litigate or attend court proceedings in Los Angeles, the judge granted the U.S. attorney a summary judgment and dismissal of my cross-claim for $11 million against the government (surprise, surprise). I still feel cheated of my day in court. Rep. Dannemeyer’s legislation would be a welcome relief for the next citizen of the tri-county with a federal grievance.

GEORGE BALDERAS

Corona