Sacramento County Family Court Presiding Judge Matthew J. Gary Provides Details On Court Cutbacks To Family Law Bar - Leaves Public In Dark

Court Earns FCAC Poster Child of the Month Award

Family Court Presiding Judge Matthew J. Gary recited a laundry list of family court services cuts in an exclusive, February 2012 presentation to attorneys from the Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Section. 

 

Gary has yet to provide the same statistics and data to the general public, including the 75 percent of family court users who don't have a lawyer. The March, 2012 issue of the Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Section newsletter, Family Law Counselor, reported what the presiding judge revealed to the for-profit attorneys who practice in family court:

• Family Court Services (FCS) is down two mediators and has no ability to replace them.
• Public counter wait times routinely exceed five hours.
• Processing of drop box legal documents may be delayed for days or weeks due to lack of staff resources.
• Court phones are shut off at noon for lack of staff to field calls.
• The branch law library was closed.
• The Computer Room at the Self-Help Center was closed.
• The Self-Help Center itself is now serving 10,000 fewer litigants than in years past due to the lack of resources.
• The court no longer pulls retention or related files for hearings because of the lack of staff in the court's records unit. This means that the court routinely does not have the entire file for review at a hearing.

In addressing the 75 percent of family court litigants who cannot afford legal representation, Judge Gary provided the following abridged version of his speech, which is posted throughout the public areas of the courthouse: 

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The deteriorating conditions within the Sacramento County Family Courthouse appear contrary to the State of California Standards of Judicial Administration, which specify the standards for trial court performance. Standard 10.17(b) mandates that to ensure access to justice for the public, all court facilities must be safe, accessible, and convenient to use.

And the FCAC Poster Child of the Month Award goes to...

Family Court Presiding Judge Matthew J. Gary

Of the 58 counties we monitor in California, the Family Court Accountability Coalition has named Sacramento County Family Court the Poster Child of the Month for serial due process, equal protection and access to the courts violations. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the current presiding judge, Matthew J. Gary, is a right-wing, anti-government ideologue who believes government is dysfunctional and is determined to prove it...while collecting a $170,000 annual salary from the state.  

"Gary characterizes his legal philosophy as favoring judicial restraint. Among the U.S. Supreme Court justices whom he admires are Antonin Scalia..." Sacramento Lawyer magazine, November/December 2007