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Law360 (April 30, 2020, 9:57 PM EDT) --
The chief administrative judge of the New York State Unified Court System announced Thursday that judges will start accepting new motions and notices of appeal for pending cases in an effort to continue to expand the court's work during COVID-19 limitations.
In a letter to all of the system's justices and judges, Chief Administrative Judge Laurence K. Marks said the expanded filings will begin Monday and include notices of appeals, new motions, responsive papers to previously filed motions and other applications including post-judgment applications.
The filings can be made through the court's e-filing system or through a new electronic document delivery system for courts and jurisdictions where e-filing is unavailable, the judge said.
"These are significant additional steps that will widen judicial work and responsibilities without rendering more difficult our continuing commitment to virtual court proceedings and the limitations inherent in those proceedings," the judge said.
The judge said that the expanding opportunities do not include the filing of new nonessential cases.
Judge Marks also said that since April 13, when the system expanded to allow virtual court appearances for nonessential matters, state judges have held over 25,000 conferences or court proceedings.
"In addition, judges are using this opportunity to address and resolve fully-submitted outstanding motions and other undecided matters," Judge Marks said. "This is critically important, because if we can eliminate the current backlog of undecided matters, we will be in a far better position to absorb what promises to be a surge of new litigation once the court system returns to more normal operations."
New civil and criminal jury trials were suspended in the New York state court system as of March 16, and it also stopped nonessential filings by paper or electronic delivery.
The halt came in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit New York the hardest of any area of the country. New York City alone has had over 12,500 confirmed deaths related to the virus as of Thursday, according to New York City's website.
--Additional reporting by Sarah Jarvis. Editing by Bruce Goldman.
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