News

June 14, 2013

Delays, Costs Rise As Next Round Of Court Cuts Arrives

Justice won’t be denied, but it’s sure to be delayed as the largest justice system in the state gets smaller this week. Los Angeles County Superior Court is eliminating 511 jobs as part of a plan to close a projected $85-million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, the Los Angeles Times reports. Layoff notices are expected to be delivered to employees June 14. Some positions will simply go unfilled, 177 people will lose their jobs, and an additional 139 people will receive demotions and pay cuts, while 223 people will be transferred to new work locations, court officials announced June 11. Including this round of cuts, the court has lost 1,398 positions since 2008, according to court spokeswoman Mary Hearn. With its annual operating budget last year of $734 million, Presiding Judge David S. Wesley (pictured at right), said the cuts he’s made address about $56 million of the shortfall. In a deal with legislators, Gov. Jerry Brown agreed this week to restore $63 million to the courts in the state budget that will take effect July 1. But the additional funds — of which L.A. County is projected receive about a third — will not stop the cuts […]
July 23, 2013

EP Client Richard Watters Profiled In Plaintiff Magazine

Richard Watters, Esq., has been an EP client for more than eight years, but that kind of time span pales in comparison to another streak Watters has kept going for five times as long. That’s right, next month will mark Watters’ 40th anniversary with the one and only law firm for which he’s ever worked: Fresno-based Miles, Sears, & Eanni. In recognition of that successful career, Watters was profiled by writer Stephen Ellison in the July 2013 issue of Plaintiff magazine, the feature article of which begins with some fatherly advice that Watters wasn’t immediately ready to accept: A Fresno native, Watters was attending law school at Santa Clara University and clerking at an insurance defense firm in San Jose when he got what would turn out to be a career-altering phone call from Dad. “My father told me there’s a very good small firm here in Fresno you should talk to,” Watters recalled, “and like most college kids, I thought, ‘What did my dad know?’ My dad was a salesman. But I came back home and interviewed with Miles, Sears and Eanni – they did 99 percent plaintiffs’ work – and they hired me. I started before I  took […]