Department C of the Pomona courthouse is located in the middle of the hallway. As with the other departments, they may or may not open their doors at 8:30 a.m. Often if there are large lines of people outside waiting to get in the building, all of the courtrooms tend to open later. Commissioner Christian is the judicial officer assigned to Department C. Before you enter the courtroom, make sure you look on the wall to the right of the doorway and locate your name, case number and calendar number (you will need your calendar number for the Bailiff). If you are not married, your name will not appear on the calendar and you will need to know your case number to ascertain your calendar number. When the doors are opened, parties check in with the Bailiff who will ask you for your calendar number. You will then find a seat in the audience. Be prepared to be educated about changes in the law and the quality of the parent child relationship as you will hear many stories both about Commissioner Christian=s family (son works for Google and one of his granddaughters is teaching him how to use the ipad) to social media (child pornography and people posting things about the other parent or themselves on Facebook). Usually the first or second pair of litigants that goes in the morning is made the example of. As with Dept. B, matters with attorneys typically go first followed by domestic violence and interpreter matters. Commissioner Christian routinely appoints Minor=s Counsel for cases where the parties disagree and there appears to be credibility issues with the parties (timeshare, school issues etc.). If this happens in your case, you will likely be given a new court date a few weeks to a month out to have the feedback from the Minor=s Counsel assigned to your case. Commissioner Christian follows the standard rules of court in that the moving party (party who brought the RFO/Motion) goes first followed by the other party. Cases are typically handled in a prompt matter interspersed with more stories and changes in the law. Commissioner Christian has been handling Family Law matters in excess of 40 years and often boasts that he has likely handled your grandparents' divorce. Overall, Commissioner Christian treats people with respect and his outcomes are consistent with the Family code.
