Does Time Stand Still? The Procedural Implications of COVID-19 in Washington, Oregon, and California

by Insuralex / Wednesday, 18 March 2020 / Published in Bullivant Houser Bailey PC, News + Articles

Insuralex´s exclusive member in California explains procedural implicatons of COVID-19 in Washington, Oregon and California

The Procedural Implications of COVID-19 in Washington, Oregon, and California

The judiciary tends to lag behind the rest of society when it comes to business practices. Many state courts have not yet adopted electronic filing. Personal appearances and in-person meetings with opposing counsel are still required by many courts. And in some jurisdictions, snail-mail service of documents continues to be the norm.

COVID-19 has upended all of that. It’s too soon to tell whether post-pandemic the courts will return to the 1980’s, or whether the pandemic will lead to long-term changes in court operations. In the meantime, however, the courts are attempting to cope, some more than others. Some, but not yet all, courts in Washington, Oregon, and California have issued orders which change procedures, shift hearings to telephone and videoconference, and continue trials. The biggest change in some courts is deadlines: most, including some statutes of limitation, are extended.

Below we summarize the current status of those orders as of the time of publication. This information is subject to change and we have included hyperlinks to court sites where it will be helpful.

Washington

The Washington Supreme Court has authorized presiding judges in trial courts to take appropriate measures as they see fit. That has resulted in varying degrees of suspension of civil trials and the movement of hearings to telephonic appearance or no appearances. The Washington Courts’ summary can be found here. Among other things:

King County (Seattle and immediate environs) has suspended trials through April 24. Civil motion hearings are being conducted by telephone.
Pierce County (Tacoma) has suspended only jury trials through April 24 unless they are already in progress. The parties may instead agree to have a bench trial.
Thurston County (Olympia) has suspended civil trials through May 15. Only time-sensitive civil motions will be heard, and those without oral argument or telephonically.
Snohomish County (Everett, north of Seattle) has continued all civil trials to June 1. Civil motions will not have oral argument absent special request.
Spokane County: Civil Jury trials are suspended through May 26. Bench trials are suspended through April 13. Motions will be heard telephonically, or decided on the papers without hearing.

The Washington federal courts are a story in contrast. The Western District (Seattle and Tacoma) courthouses are closed except for emergency motions. All trials set to occur before June 1 are continued pending further order. Motions that can be decided on the papers will continue to be considered. The Eastern District (Spokane, Yakima, and Richland) has canceled Naturalization Ceremonies through April 30, but nothing else.

Oregon

In Oregon, litigants can electronically file court documents in Oregon’s circuit courts and the Oregon Tax Court. So, filings can continue even if the courthouses close temporarily.

Trials and in-person court appearances, however, will be impacted. Oregon’s Supreme Court issued an Order on March 16, 2020 enacting Level 3 restrictions on the operations of Oregon’s state courts through March 27, 2020. As a practical matter, this means that no civil jury trials will start during the Level 3 period, and any trials that were underway by the time of the Order will be continued if they cannot be completed by March 19, 2020.

On March 16, 2020, the U.S. District Court for Oregon issued an order continuing all civil and criminal jury selections and trials, and all grand jury proceedings scheduled to begin before April 26, 2020, until further order. Likewise, all hearings scheduled to occur before April 26, 2020 have been continued until further order unless the parties can agree to conduct the hearing telephonically. On March 17, 2020, the Oregon District Court supplemented its Order to state that the Courts will remain operational, but will not be open to the public. All filings must be made through the Court’s ECF system.

California

California has four separate federal judicial districts and 58 county Superior Courts, and there is no uniformity among them.

In several counties, the courts have issued orders declaring a specified number of days (typically 10 to 15 days) starting on or about March 16 to be holidays for purposes of calculating time. Code of Civil Procedure §§ 12 and 12a collectively provide that if the last day to perform an act required by law within a specified period of time is a holiday, that period is extended to the next day that is not a holiday. Section 12a contains broad language making it applicable to “all other provisions of law providing or requiring an act to be performed on a particular day or within a specified period of time, whether expressed in this or any other code or statute, ordinance, rule, or regulation.” It applies to statutes of limitation. DeLeon v. Bay Area Rapid Transit, 33 Cal.3d 456, 461 (1983). Note, however, that the majority of California Superior Courts, particularly those in the rural counties, have not issued emergency orders, so in those counties, the old rules and deadlines still apply.

Various counties, including some who have not gone to the length of declaring holidays, have also changed hearings to telephone hearings, continued trials set in the next 15-60 days, and excused clients from personal appearance at Settlement Conferences. Los Angeles County has issued an order suspending all Civil and Criminal trials through April 16.

The federal courts don’t have the power to declare holidays to extend limitation periods, and with the exception of the Northern District of California (which covers the Bay Area and the coast from Monterey County to the Oregon border), there have been few changes in procedures and hearings. In the Northern District all trial dates before May 1, 2020 have been vacated and all civil hearings will be by telephone or videoconference.

The Eastern (the Central Valley and Sierras, sitting in Sacramento and Fresno) District has continued all jury trials set between now and May 1, 2020. Individual judges may continue to hold hearings, including by telephone or video. The Southern District (San Diego and Imperial Counties) has continued all jury trials set before April 16, 2020. Again telephone and video conferencing will be allowed for hearings. The Central District (Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties) has imposed visitor restrictions and for mediations relaxed the rules requiring personal appearances, but not more. Some individual judges have, however, announced they will be deciding all motions on the papers without hearing except in exceptional circumstances.

The COVID-19 situation is rapidly evolving, so this information is subject to change and we recommend you contact your Bullivant attorney for up-to-date information.