Litigation Update
Posted on: April 2, 2020
The COVID-19 outbreak has had far-reaching impacts that have affected the federal and state court systems in our area. Our Firm’s litigation team is monitoring the developments affecting the court systems in our area and is ready to advise our clients concerning the impacts that the various directives and restrictions may have on their litigation matters.
All time limits and deadlines to commence, file, or serve any legal action, notice, motion or other legal process has been suspended through at least April 19, 2020 by an Executive Order signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Additionally, New York State courts are not accepting any filings, whether filed electronically or by hard copy, in connection with any non-essential or non-emergency matters.
The New York State Unified Court System is open to handle all essential and emergency matters. All judicial proceedings for essential and emergency matters in Nassau County will be conducted at the Nassau County County Court in Mineola, and all such judicial proceedings in Suffolk County will be conducted at the Cohalan Court Complex in Central Islip. Most court proceedings for essential and emergency matters will be conducted by video conference. All non-essential matters are being administratively adjourned and postponed to a date on or after April 30, 2020, in order to limit the number of people in the courthouses.
For non-essential, civil litigation, the courts are strongly discouraging the parties from prosecuting matters in a manner that would require in-person appearances or travel that would be inconsistent with prevailing health and safety directives imposed by our government officials. Additionally, where a party is unable to meet a discovery or litigation deadline as a result of the current health emergency, the courts are urging the parties to adjourn or postpone proceedings by stipulation or agreement. If parties are unable to reach such agreements, the courts will address these matters on a case by case basis when the court’s normal operations resume.
The state appellate courthouses are closed to all visitors and will only entertain emergency applications that are emailed to the court clerk. While, in most cases, statutory deadlines remain in effect, all perfection, filing and other deadlines that are set forth in any order from the appellate courts, the practice rules of the Appellate Division, or a particular appellate court’s rules of practice, are suspended indefinitely until further directive from the courts. Additionally, applications or motions for an extension of time, that were pending as of March 17, 2020, are adjourned until further direction from the courts.
In the United States Federal Courts, most non-essential jury trials and in-person hearings are being postponed and adjourned for several weeks until further direction from the courts, and the courts are using video and teleconferencing tools where possible in all other matters.
Given the evolving nature of this health emergency, litigants should be mindful that there may be new guidelines and further limitations on in-person courthouse activities in the days ahead. Once normal courthouse activities resume, our litigation team expects that judges will be flexible in case rescheduling and necessary adjournments due to circumstances caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
We recommend that clients consult with members of our litigation team to understand the impacts of any new restrictions or directives on their respective matters.