Courts in nearly two dozen upstate New York counties Monday began accepting new lawsuits previously barred under filing restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move dovetails with recent announcements that wide swathes of upstate New York have received the green light to reopen parts of their economy by meeting certain state benchmarks.

Limited in-person court operations started Monday in the counties that make up the Finger Lakes, the Mohawk Valley and the Southern Tier, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said in a video statement. That means judges and their personal staff are returning to their courthouses and the courts in those regions are accepting new case filings electronically, she said.

Later this week, those operations are expected to extend to courthouses in the North Country and Central New York. 

"The reopening of these five regions is a very significant turn in the state's emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic, and our court system is pleased to be able to begin our return to fuller service," she said, according to a transcript of her speech. "But make no mistake, this is most decidedly not a return to business as usual."

DiFiore said the system will extend the suspension of jury operations.

It remained unclear Monday afternoon if courthouses in Western New York would immediately be cleared to accept new filings, given Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Monday announcement that the region would be entering the first phase of reopening.

As New York's COVID-19 crisis intensified in March, the state's court system postponed all "nonessential" services. The move implemented a ban on new nonessential lawsuits.

Like many companies restarting their operations, courthouses will be operating under new safety measures. According to the court system, those efforts include requiring non-employee court visitors to undergo a COVID-19 screening before coming into a courthouse. Anyone entering a courthouse must also wear a mask, according to a press release from the system. 

DiFiore added there will be a deep cleaning of court facilities before the start of public operations.

Even with returning in-person operations, DiFiore cautioned that the virus remains a "very serious public health threat."

"We must remain mindful and disciplined not to squander all of the hard work and sacrifice every one of us has made to safely negotiate through this difficult and threatening time," she said, according to a transcript. 

Economic Reopening

Cuomo said Monday that under the first reopening phase, manufacturing and construction companies in Western New York can bring back their operations, among other industries. The second phase is expected to allow law firms to return to in-office work.

A region must spend two weeks in phase one before moving on to phase two, according to a Cuomo administration official.

The announcement on Western New York, which includes the city of Buffalo, comes after state officials reset the timeline for analyzing certain reopening metrics.

Five other regions—Central New York, the North Country, the Finger Lakes, the Southern Tier and the Mohawk Valley—have been allowed to move into phase one of Cuomo's reopening scheme.

Despite the reopening movement for upstate New York, downstate law firms whose work is deemed nonessential should not expect to open up their offices soon.

New York City, Long Island and the Mid-Hudson region have all not met reopening benchmarks required by the state. Regions must see a downturn, or a low number, of new hospitalizations and hospital deaths to reopen. The state benchmarks also require that regions have the ability to do 30 diagnostic tests per 1,000 residents on a monthly basis.