LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Court Expands Interpreter Services To Assist Low-Income, Civil Litigants in Eviction, Conservatorship & Guardianship Hearings

Effective May 19, 2014, the Los Angeles Superior Court will expand interpreter services to qualifying non-English-speaking, civil litigants in several areas.

The Court will make court-certified interpreters’ services available to litigants qualifying for court-fee waivers who are involved in unlawful detainer (eviction), conservatorship, and guardianship cases. The expansion of services is made possible by a change in statewide policy regarding court interpreter funding.

California law allows the waiving of certain court fees based on a sliding scale for family income and size. Limited-English speaking litigants in unlawful detainer, conservatorship and guardianship cases who have qualified for a fee waiver will also qualify for the services of a court-certified interpreter while in court, free of charge, upon request.

Litigants can request an interpreter at the time of filing. Notice of interpreter availability is provided in five languages at the Clerk’s Office.

Unlawful detainer cases are handled at the following court locations: Stanley Mosk Courthouse, Los Angeles; Michael D. Antonovich Courthouse, Lancaster; Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse, Long Beach; Pasadena Courthouse and Santa Monica Courthouse.

Conservator and guardianship cases are held at the Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles and the Antonovich Courthouse in Lancaster.

Presiding Judge David S. Wesley remarked, “Despite severe budget cutbacks, the Los Angeles Superior Court has preserved many basic services for litigants. The ability to communicate with others in court is one of the most basic needs of every litigant.

“Meeting this demand in a place as linguistically diverse as Los Angeles County is a challenge, but I am pleased that the Court will be able to better meet this challenge for tens of thousands more litigants.”

LASC’s spoken language interpreters currently assist litigants in 86 languages. Interpreter services are already provided free of charge for litigants in criminal, juvenile and domestic violence cases.

http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/scroller/14NRCourtProvidesInterpretersforLow-IncomeCivilLitigants.pdf

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