Chief Justice Will Coordinate Court Response to Coronavirus

As Fulton County temporarily closed more than 100 schools to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak Tuesday, Georgia’s judiciary was preparing for any impact the anticipated spread could have on court operations. 

Chief Supreme Court Justice Harold Melton will begin sitting in on meetings of Gov. Brian Kemp’s coronavirus task force, although he will not be a voting member, court spokeswoman Jane Hansen said Tuesday.

On Monday, Melton also notified all the state’s judges that he will coordinate the judiciary’s response to the outbreak, Hansen said. Melton also urged judges to familiarize themselves with Georgia’s pandemic bench guide in case Kemp declares a state emergency.

The state Supreme Court also issued an order on Tuesday temporarily waiving the in-person continuing legal education requirement for members of the State Bar of Georgia until March 31.

The high court’s CLE waiver is effective immediately and was made in consultation with bar president Darrell Sutton of the Sutton Law Group in Marietta.

Bar members will still be required to complete their 12-hour CLE requirement by March 31. But they may earn all 12 hours through self-study, in-house, or online seminars, although, to date, no scheduled CLE programs have been canceled.

On Tuesday, neither the state nor the judiciary were operating under emergency declarations, and none of the state’s courts have closed.  The state had 17 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Tuesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center.

Meanwhile, 34 Georgians and a number of other U.S. citizens living in the eastern U.S. who were passengers on the Grand Princess cruise ship sitting off the coast of California have been scheduled to transfer to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Cobb County where they will be quarantined.

Chief Justice Harold Melton (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

Courts across the country are beginning to employ measures to limit the virus’ spread and disruption on the judiciary.  On Monday the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order barring courthouse entry to people who had visited five countries hard hit by coronavirus. 

Last Friday, the chief judge of the Western District of Washington, which is battling an outbreak centered on a Seattle area nursing home, suspended all civil and criminal matters requiring an in-court appearance.  

Georgia’s 175-page pandemic bench guide warns judges that if the virus begins spreading rapidly across the state, they should expect an increase in emergency matters and case filings tied to efforts by public health officials to involuntarily isolate or quarantine individuals who may be exposed to, or contracted the virus.  

It also warns that judges, attorneys, parties and court and security personnel needed to carry out each court’s essential functions may be unavailable due to illness or exposure, and that face-to-face contact with court officers, including jurors, may be dramatically limited, if not impossible.

The guide also warns that buildings housing the courts may be affected by inadequate staffing due to isolation, quarantine, illness, or death.

The bench guide lays out short-term and long-term objectives to keep the courts operating.  The guide recommends that judges focus on addressing criminal matters, emergency civil matters, and other essential functions where no or limited face-to-face contact is required.

Hansen said the state Supreme Court has not yet activated its own plan to continue court operations without having people come to a central location. She said no attorneys have contacted the court expressing reservations about appearing at oral arguments. But the court is “ready to accommodate anyone who feels susceptible or uncomfortable and wants to reschedule arguments or submit them on the briefs.” she said.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts has also issued formal guidance on issuing judicial emergency orders should Melton or the chief judges of the state’s judicial circuits declare an emergency. 

That would happen either after a state emergency declaration by the governor, or public health or local emergencies have been declared by smaller jurisdictions.

The state Judicial Council  has posted on its website a template for an order declaring a judiciary emergency.  In the event of courthouse closures, the courts could suspend, toll, or extend filing deadlines and other time schedules, including statutes of limitation, time limits involving the issuance of warrants, commitment hearings, juvenile detention, speedy trial demands, grand jury bills of indictment, habeas writs, discovery, service notices, and rights of appeal. 

If a judicial emergency makes access to the courthouse or clerks’ offices impossible, judges may designate another facility to transact court business, according to separate guidance regarding judicial emergencies that was updated last week. 

Michelle Barclay, a spokeswoman for the Judicial Council and the state Administrative Office of the Courts, said the council website has posted software tools that will enable courts to operate remotely, including DocuSign for court orders, Zoom for teleconferencing, and Google G-Suite.  Barclay said Google announced this week that it is rolling out free video-conferencing access for all its G Suite and G Suite for Education customers.

Barclay said the courts are also “starting to grapple with” issues involving jail or prison inmates who come from closed environments where illness may more easily spread, and jurors housed in common jury venire rooms or isolated in small rooms with other jurors.

Tom Charron, court administrator for Cobb County Superior Court,  said Monday that Cobb courts have already adopted a more lenient policy allowing jurors to defer services who are anxious about possible exposure to coronavirus, or who are sick.

Charron said that of 250 people called as potential jurors last week, only three were dismissed or deferred. One was feeling ill and two others who expressed apprehension about contracting the virus.  Charron said that potential jurors were “a pretty cheerful bunch. Most people were taking it in stride.”