LOS ANGELES--A state appeals court has ruled that Los Angeles County can not give employment benefits to its judges beyond the compensation determined by the state Legislature.

In a decision issued Friday, a three-judge panel of the state's 4th District Court of Appeal said that programs allowing judges access to benefits given to other county employees was not allowed under the state's constitution.

"The duty to prescribe judicial compensation is not delegable," Associate Justice Patricia Benke wrote in a 37-page opinion.
The decision says that at some point in the late 1980s the county began providing judges with additional benefits available to county employees, including health benefit accounts, professional development funds and 401k programs above what they were given by the state. Last year each Superior Court judge in Los Angeles was eligible to receive $46,436 in benefits from the county, totaling $21 million a year in cost, the opinion said.

The lawsuit was brought by the public advocacy group Judicial Watch in April 2006.

The county argued that court-funding legislation from 1997 authorized the benefits, and that given the high cost of living in Los Angeles they were needed to attract and retain skilled judges.

A judge had sided with the county and issued a summary judgment in its favor, but Judicial Watch appealed.

"This appellate court ruling represents a tremendous victory (for) the taxpayers and citizens," Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement.

A phone and e-mail message left Wednesday with an attorney representing the county was not immediately returned.