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The Court Service is to increase virtual hearings and extend the use of physical distancing in court rooms to allow more cases to be handled in the coming weeks.
Outlining plans for each court jurisdiction, the service said it had appointed a full-time Health and Safety Officer to ensure continued compliance with public health councils.
The measures employed in the courts will include screens for judges, staff and witnesses along with marks on the floor to help with physical distancing. The increasing use of video link audiences will also be used.
Court President Frank Clarke said it remained “unrealistic to anticipate that all courtrooms in all courts could operate at or near the level that existed prior to the coronavirus crisis.”
He also said the measures “could be at stake” until the second half of next year. Judge Clarke said that it was therefore important that the use of remote hearings in appropriate cases remain part of the solution in the medium term.
A new practical address for the Supreme Court, released in April, will see six cases identified for hearing in the coming weeks. Individual judges have been assigned to each case to ensure it is ready for a remote hearing. Seven others have been identified for a possible hearing before the end of July.
The Court of Appeals will continue to hear and increase the number of appeals remotely and will increase the number of hearings.
Starting next Monday, it is anticipated that there will be three virtual courts sitting. In each court, one or two appeals will be listed, depending on the expected length of the hearing.
The CCJ will facilitate remote virtual hearings of criminal appeals.
The High Court, which has already started some remote hearings, will increase the type and number of cases heard. He will also sit down during Whit’s usual ten-day vacation, which typically causes the courts to break for ten days.
Three superior courts will be available for remote hearings every day, and another seven courts in all four courts will be available for remote physical hearings, according to Superior Court President Justice Peter Kelly.
However, he said it would not be possible to hear cases related to oral testimony of witnesses, he said.
Some jury trials in the Circuit Court will resume in September this year.
District court appeals will proceed where the accused are in custody. Family law cases will receive a hearing date as soon as possible and can be dealt with remotely if possible.
Civil cases in Circuit Court that have been suspended since March will have a hearing date as soon as possible.
District courts across the country will continue to hear urgent cases and have expanded the list of urgent cases to include more areas of criminal, family and child care law. Parties with non-urgent cases are not required to attend court.
All civil cases in the District Court are considered non-urgent and will be suspended. Full details of the settlements for each court have been posted on the Court Service website.
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