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Law360 (March 16, 2020, 9:36 PM EDT) -- Florida's busiest state court is shutting down for all but emergency or mission critical court matters to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Miami-Dade County chief judge announced Monday.
Chief Judge Bertila Soto said all state court facilities in Miami-Dade will be closed to the public and will host only mission critical hearings, such as criminal first appearances, arraignments, mental health and substance abuse hearings, juvenile shelter and detention hearings, and emergency requests for restraining orders.
The closure will be in effect from Tuesday, March 17 through Friday, March 27, according to the order.
Broward County, which has seen more COVID-19 cases than any other county in Florida, has also shut down its courts for the two-week period, with similar exceptions for essential due process proceedings and restraining orders.
The actions followed the Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady's order issued Friday afternoon suspending most face-to-face proceedings throughout the state court system and pausing all jury selection and criminal and civil jury trials for two weeks.
The order was the first time a limit on face-to-face proceedings has been ordered since 1972, when the state's court system was first unified.
--Editing by Emily Kokoll.
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