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Law360 (May 4, 2020, 7:51 PM EDT) -- Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady on Monday extended the suspension of jury trials in Florida state courts until July 2 and expanded the list of court proceedings that will be held remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Non-jury trials, motion hearings, arraignments in county court misdemeanor cases, hearings in juvenile delinquency cases, hearings in non-criminal traffic infractions and case management hearings will now all be held using remote technology, according to Justice Canady's order.
The intent is to shift as many cases as possible to a virtual environment using remote technology to keep moving them toward resolution.
In the order, Justice Canady said the goal is to keep "courts operating to the fullest extent consistent with public safety."
Justice Canady issued the order after hearing the first set of recommendations from the Workgroup on the Continuity of Court Operations that he created with an April 21 order. The 17-member workgroup, which is chaired by Judge Lisa Taylor Munyon of the Ninth Circuit in Orlando, is examining the status of all court proceedings statewide during the pandemic and will be advising how to keep the courts functioning with remote technology and other new procedures.
This is the third extension of the chief justice's initial March 13 decree, which represented the first time a limit on face-to-face proceedings was ordered in Florida since 1972, when the state's court system was unified.
In those earlier orders, Justice Canady directed all circuit and county courts to fulfill their responsibility to conduct proceedings critical to the current state of emergency or the public health emergency, but told each circuit's chief judge to cancel or postpone any nonessential proceedings unless they could be conducted remotely.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday with all of its justices and attorneys in separate locations for the first time in history because of the pandemic. The court announced last month that it will use Zoom remote video teleconferencing to hold interactive oral argument sessions for the disputes scheduled to be heard this month.
In a video message issued in March, Justice Canady described the current situation as an "unprecedented challenge."
"The pandemic presents an extraordinary challenge for the legal system. We depend on human interaction to achieve justice under the law," he said. "We are working to maintain that interaction while also minimizing the spread of the virus. I am confident that the courts, the legal profession and all of our partners are up to the task."
--Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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