Case: County of Nevada v. Superior Court of Nevada County

C0740504 | California state trial court

Filed Date: 2013

Closed Date: July 31, 2015

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Case Summary

In 2013, the commander of the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility, a county jail in California, informed the inmates that lawyers would no longer be able to meet face-to-face with their clients. Instead, lawyers would have to meet with clients through glass walls, speaking into telephones. Both attorneys and inmates testified that communication was much harder through these “telephones” and that the conversations were not private because the glass partitions were not adequately soundproofed. Several inmates brought suit in California superior court. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial court, notwithstanding the deference that courts ordinarily accord jails and prisons in conducting their own affairs, ordered the jail to make face-to-face visits available absent individual circumstances justifying separation.

The County of Nevada then filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the California Third District Court of Appeal, which granted a preliminary motion to stay the superior court’s order. The parties and amici then presented arguments on the legal issues. The Court of Appeal ultimately determined that the superior court did not abuse its discretion and refused to issue the writ, so the trial court’s order stood. 236 Cal. App. 4th 1001 (Apr. 23, 2015). The court denied attorney’s costs to the prisoners’ lawyers who had initiated the suit.

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Summary Authors

Elizabeth Helpling (3/12/2020)