Los Angeles County courts are jammed up as a result of budget cuts, with traffic ticket trials taking as many as nine months to get started, the Associated Press reports.

Seventeen courtrooms have been shut down and another 50 will see closed doors as a result of a $393 million cut in state funding, according to AP. Courts are being furloughed on the third Wednesday of each month. Chaos and a logjam of cases are expected, and already the average 16-month civil lawsuit could take four years to resolve.

Custody hearings, divorces, small claims, and juvenile matters have also been delayed in the nation's largest court system. Superior Court Judge Charles W. McCoy Jr. runs the L.A. courts and wants $47 million of court construction money to be diverted to keep court rooms open.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts chief financial officer Stephen Nash says McCoy is exaggerating the problems.

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