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Law360 (May 26, 2020, 5:44 PM EDT) -- The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday delayed all state court jury trials until at least Sept. 8 and kept the courts closed to the public through June due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The orders, effective June 1, codify what the state's top justices signaled they would likely do in a letter to the bar sent nearly two weeks ago. The courts will continue to handle all matters remotely, the SJC said, and both civil and criminal bench trials will be delayed until at least July 1.
As has been the case all along since the public health crisis began, the SJC is allowing for exceptions for any emergency matters that cannot be addressed remotely.
"We will physically open courthouses to the public only when we are confident that we have protocols in place that will allow court users and court personnel to both be safe and feel safe, and even then we will open only in stages, focusing first on those matters that can only be addressed in person," Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants said in a statement.
Anticipating that a good deal of court business will continue to be conducted virtually after the courts open their doors, Justice Gants added that the court will "devote our energies in June to improving our ability to do so, and to increasing the number and range of matters that can be resolved without the need for anyone physically to appear in court."
The new orders leave open the possibility of a civil or criminal bench trial happening virtually before the July 1 date penciled in for the courts to reopen. In a civil case, the trial judge alone will decide whether to proceed remotely, the SJC said, a departure from an earlier order that required the parties and the judge to sign off.
As was the case before, the SJC still requires both the parties and the judge to agree to hold a criminal bench trial virtually.
The new order also ends the tolling of civil statutes of limitations on June 30 and the tolling of criminal statutes of limitation on Sept. 1. The tolling of other deadlines generally will end on July 1, the SJC said.
In a separate order, the SJC authorized the taking of remote depositions in civil cases without agreement of the parties or court approval.
In their May 14 letter, Justice Gants along with Appeals Court Chief Justice Mark V. Green and Trial Courts Chief Justice Paula M. Carey outlined their "path forward" for the state courts, including relying heavily on remote hearings even as the state reopens.
The plans, which were at that point tentative, called for the continued closure of state courts through June and said jury trials could resume if schools were back in session with students on campus in the fall.
The justices promised a slow, phased approach to reopening the courts, noting that "the days when our trial court welcomed approximately 40,000 persons a day into our courthouses are over, at least for the duration of the pandemic."
--Editing by Daniel King.
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