Sacramento County Superior Court Employee Discipline Policies and Administrative Procedures Posted by Sacramento Family Court News

Internal Court Records Reveal Employee Discipline Policies Not Being Enforced

Sacramento Family Court News has obtained the internal employee discipline policies and administrative procedures for Sacramento County Superior Court. Click here to view the complete document.

Sacramento Family Court watchdogs and whistleblowers have for months charged that court administrators do not follow their own employee discipline policies and that accountability for employee misconduct is nonexistent. Discipline policies ensure that taxpayers receive the court services they pay for, and help maintain public trust in the court system. To maintain that trust, employees ostensibly are held to a higher standard of conduct than employees of other organizations, according to the court's own written policy. 

Court reform advocates have cataloged an array of employee misconduct, including clerks who file counterfeit paperwork for attorneys who are temporary judges and members of the Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Section, clerks who illegally reject appeals filed by financially disadvantaged litigants without lawyers, and systemic state law violations by family court administrators and the family law facilitator office. Click here for our investigative reports. Instead of acknowledging and transparently addressing the misconduct, court oversight officials - including Court Executive Officer Christina Volkers - have adopted a code of silence and refuse to notify the public what corrective measures, if any, have been taken. 

Sacramento Family Court News has obtained and posted online the internal employee discipline policies and administrative procedures of the court. Click here to view the complete document. The continuing, institutionalized court problems documented by watchdogs and whistleblowers and reported by SFCN indicate that the discipline policies are not being enforced. An excerpt of the policy is posted below-the-fold:

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Mute Court: Sacramento County Court Executive Officer Christina Volkers Silent on State Law Violations by Family Court Appeals Unit

Chris Volkers, Court Executive Officer for
Sacramento County Superior Court.

Christina Volkers, Court Executive Officer for Sacramento County Superior Court has declined to notify the public what corrective measures will be taken to ensure that family court clerks do not unlawfully obstruct appeals by unrepresented, financially disadvantaged litigants.

In an February 7 email to Volkers, Sacramento Family Court News asked for a response - including any planned corrective measures - to our report documenting that the family court appeals unit is illegally rejecting timely appeals as being untimely. Volkers, the court's CEO, did not respond to our request.

During the same time period, an article about court reporter cutbacks published in the Sacramento Business Journal on Feb. 15 included an email response and statement from Volkers.

Government officials are by law required to provide equal treatment and access to reporters and media organizations. If Volkers has invoked a code of silence and blacklisted Sacramento Family Court News in retaliation for its reporting, taxpayers could be liable for the costs of litigation challenging the unequal treatment.

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Sacramento Superior Court Employee Misconduct: Family Court Whistleblower Alleges Systemic Code of Civil Procedure and Court Rule Violations by Court Administrators & Clerks

Sacramento Family Court Chiefs Julie Setzer and Colleen McDonagh Responsible for Serial State Law Violations, Whistleblower Charges

Color of Law: The Conspiracy to End Pro Per Appeals
A Sacramento Family Court News Exclusive Investigative Report. Part 1.

This story is part of an ongoing investigation and was updated in September, 2013

Sacramento County Family Court Director of Operations Julie Setzer and Manager
Colleen McDonagh have directed court employees to disregard state laws
mandating entry of judgment procedure, charges a court whistleblower.

A Sacramento County Family Court whistleblower has leaked to Sacramento Family Court News court records indicating that countless family court cases are missing critical paperwork required by state law. 

After any family court hearing which results in a judgment regarding child custody or visitation, spousal support, or any other judgment subject to immediate appeal, California Rules of Court rule 5.134 requires court clerks to enter, file and serve a Notice of Entry of Judgment. State court rule 8.104(e) defines "judgment" as any appealable order. 

By law, the court clerk must use Judicial Council Form FL-190 to provide the notice of entry to all parties. The notice provides an important notification regarding the right to appeal, and the destruction of exhibits on file with the court. In addition, two other components of the FL-190 form eliminate ambiguity in the time frame for an appeal, according to the California Supreme Court. 

In a 2007 decision, the high court noted that the title of the mandatory form and the clerk's certificate of mailing at the bottom of the notice were drafted specifically to eliminate miscalculations and disputes related to appeal time frames. Click here and scroll down to the highlighted text to view the relevant sections of the 2007 Supreme Court case.  

For appealable judgments in law and motion proceedings, Sacramento Family Court Director of Operations Julie Setzer, Manager Colleen McDonagh and Supervising Courtroom Clerk Denise Richards have directed court employees to simply ignore the law, according to the source, who provided the information on the condition of anonymity because they could be subject to retaliation for the disclosure. 

To continue reading Part 1 of our series Color of Law, click Read more >> below. 

Family Court Sacramento: Court Executive Officer Christina Volkers Takes Helm of Sacramento County Superior Court

Chris Volkers Starts Work as Court Executive Officer for Sacramento County

Chris Volkers will assume the role of Sacramento County
Superior Court Court Executive Officer starting today.

Starting today, Sacramento County Superior Court officially has a new court executive officer. The position had been vacant since the retirement of Dennis Jones in 2011. After the retirement of Jones, Chief Deputy Court Executive Officer Ed Pollard assumed the role of interim court executive officer. In October, the court Public Information Office announced that Christina "Chris" Volkers was hired as Court Executive Officer for Sacramento County Superior Court, and would begin work on Dec. 1. According to the Oct. 24 news release from the Public Information Office of the court: 

"Ms. Volkers received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in financial management from the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul Minnesota in 1987. She began her career working in court administration in 1988 as an Accounting and Administrative Manager for the criminal and traffic divisions of the Ramsey County, Second Judicial District Court in St. Paul. In 1996, Ms. Volkers became the Administrative Manager for the Hennepin County, Fourth Judicial District Court in Minneapolis, MN where she managed both court operations and finance. In 2000, she became the Court Administrator of the Washington County, Tenth Judicial District Court in Stillwater MN. In 2009, Ms. Volkers became the Assistant Court Executive Officer for the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, a position she holds today. Ms. Volkers will assume her responsibilitis with the Sacramento Superior Court on December 1, 2012." 

Click here for more articles about Christina Volkers, Court Executive Officer for Sacramento County Superior Court.