The announcement by Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. followed Gov. John Carney's move on Friday to continue a statewide emergency order — including a stay-at-home mandate and widespread business closings — to May 15. The order for the court system, however, would end on May 14 because of a 30-day limit for such restrictions, regardless of the issuer, although either or both could be extended as needed for consistency or need.
For the courts, the chief justice's announcement extends an order issued on March 14, and means that only a handful of locations will remain open for essential and unavoidably in-person activities, including bail payment and emergency criminal and civil matters and some family court proceedings, among others.
Other cases will meanwhile continue to rely on telephone, internet and video proceedings to maintain essential case flow and services, ranging from some criminal hearings to non-trial arguments on corporate and commercial law disputes in the state's busy Court of Chancery and Superior Court's Complex Commercial Litigation Division. The court system has wherever possible converted to electronic documents, although provisions remain for paper filings if needed.
"Obviously we want to be in sync with the governor's order, because people are not supposed to be traveling to places like courthouses," the chief justice said. "Our state courthouses and facilities are going to remain closed to the public, but that does not mean we're not continuing to handle emergencies and essential services."
The Supreme Court's justices have been conferring weekly on pending decisions, and offered early on to consider all appeals only on briefs, the chief justice said. To date, attorneys in 13 cases have opted to wait it out for an in person argument.
Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard said that, while in-person Chancery Court trials have stopped for now, there has been no letup in that court's nationally important work..
"We've been conducting essentially business as usual to the extent possible in this environment," the chancellor said. "That's been reflected in the number of hearings we conduct remotely either through audio or video technology," barring urgent circumstances.
More recently, Chancery Court's members have begun practicing with the group video and web conferencing app Zoom, with Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn recently using it for a post-trial hearing. Some mediation and guardianship cases also have used the group video conferencing app as well.
A telling moment will come in early June, the chancellor said, when the court could have to consider approaches like Zoom for trials. The court system statewide, however, has reported that it will take a liberal approach to extensions of deadlines.
"I think it's possible, but it's certainly less than ideal to conduct a trial remotely," Chancellor Bouchard said. "So it's really going to be case by case whether or not we'll need to do that."
"Not much of a backlog" has developed elsewhere across the system, the chancellor said.
"The lawyers are behaving well, which is a nice thing, and I think they're happy that we're working hard, almost bending over backward, to do things using remote technology so they can keep things moving along and get rulings," the chancellor said.
Some 100 court workers are continuing to keep key court offices open across the state despite general public office closings and calls to maintain social distancing. Supreme Court justices are conferring remotely each week on cases scheduled for decisions, with the pace "pretty much in the regular order," the chief justice said.
"It's important to know that the courts are sympathetic to what's happening in people's personal lives," the chief justice said.
For the state's top court, "I think we're probably going to be looking at the summertime to be making up lost ground," Chief Justice Seitz said. "Right now we don't have plans to hold arguments by video. We'd rather do them in person if we can."
Court staff members have made significant sacrifices to keep the wheels moving and essential services in place, the chief justice noted. Some risks were diminished by court system investments well before the emergency in personal protection supplies
The system was "over-prepared" enough, the chief justice said, to have the opportunity to share "pallet-full" of those essential goods with Christiana Hospital, including face masks and shields.
Plans already are in the works for an "after action" review once the emergency eases, the chief justice said, pointing out that "we've already put in place some processes that I think will continue until we get back to whatever the new normal is."
Chancellor Bouchard said that Chancery Court is likewise not "pushing full speed ahead regardless of the consequence."
"I think people are taking to heart that we're in a very human drama and a very tense time in our country and in our state. These are tumultuous moments," Chancellor Bouchard said.
--Editing by Rebecca Flanagan.
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