Select courtrooms at the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center were fitted with glass in front of seats in July as an added precaution against the spread of COVID-19. July 9. Photo: Ellen Bardash/ALM

More than three months since Delaware's judiciary first declared a state of emergency, state courts have reported there likely won't be much of a case load to catch up on as courthouse activity ramps back up.

Since courtrooms were first closed to the public March 23 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the judiciary and attorneys have been using remote methods to keep cases moving, many of which are being carried into the courts' reopening stages.

"It is likely that many proceedings that are now being conducted by phone or video may stay that way going forward as they not only help prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus but have also proved to be easier and more efficient for all involved, saving both time and money," said Sean O'Sullivan, chief of community relations.

Between March 15 and June 15, O'Sullivan said, the Court of Chancery and Superior Court held a combined 643 hearings in civil cases either by phone or video, and an additional 541 criminal proceedings took place in Superior Court. In that time, the Delaware Supreme Court issued 108 final orders and 10 opinions.

Francis Pileggi of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith said he noticed little delay caused in the Court of Chancery while court matters were being handled remotely, in part because the court had been using electronic filing and working remotely with attorneys from around the country regularly long before the pandemic began.

"In my experience, the work has still continued behind the scenes. I understand around the country there's not as much work getting done in some other states as there is in Delaware," Pileggi said Monday. "It was common before the pandemic to handle routine (Court of Chancery) motions and even substantive motions remotely, so that just continued in a more pervasive way."

O'Sullivan said the largest backlogs of cases developed over the past several months in the courts that regularly see higher volumes of cases, including the Justice of the Peace Court, which kept three courts open to the public 24 hours a day, with restrictions, throughout the judicial state of emergency.

Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. extended that judicial emergency for a fourth time July 6, keeping the court system in the second phase of its reopening plan until at least Aug. 6. Members of the public are now permitted to reenter Delaware's courthouses, though jury trials are not being held and remote hearings are still being encouraged.

Decisions on when and how to reopen courts to the public have been made at the recommendation of a committee formed in late April and consisting of members of the judiciary, court staff, the Administrative Office of the Courts, Delaware Department of Justice personnel, Capitol Police and others.

The Courts Reopening Committee, chaired by Superior Court Judge William C. Carpenter, was advised by Alfred E. Bacon III, an infectious disease doctor. A task force, also headed by Carpenter, is now in the process of determining when and how jury trials can safely begin again. A report is expected to be completed by mid-August, with the first jury trials to be held in September at the earliest.

Throughout July, additions to courtrooms have been made to maximize safety as more people return to Delaware's courthouses. Markers have been places on the floor asking people to stand at least six feet apart, plexiglass partitions have been put up to separate parties in court, and screenings are being done as people enter the courthouses.

"We have been forced as a court and as attorneys to try matters that we never had been able to do or never wanted to do in the past through technology and remote processing. We've found now that we can do them, and we can do them well," Carpenter said at a virtual town hall.

People in custody awaiting court appearances for criminal cases are still not being transported to courthouses for in-person hearings and will not be until Phase 3 of the reopening plan. Though speedy trial requirements have been waived while the state of judicial emergency is in place, Sullivan said criminal cases are being given priority, and the court system has worked with the Delaware Department of Correction to streamline a system of video calls.

"The judiciary is keenly aware of the importance of acting quickly and fairly on criminal matters even in the face of a public health crisis," he said.

O'Sullivan said it was determined early on that courts' infrastructure and technology for conducting matters remotely, such as the amount of audio and visual equipment in courtrooms and increasing the number of hearings that could be held remotely in a given day, were lacking.

"Early on, there were some technology challenges to not only ensure that our video and audio conferencing worked with our partners but that it was also was secure. In those early days, when the availability of some audio and video technology was more limited, there were also some scheduling challenges—in that there were only so many proceedings that could be handled in any given day on the available systems," he said. "That is something that has improved greatly during the past few weeks and something that will be a focus going forward."