County, federal courts postpone new cases
Following the lead of the state Supreme Court, Allegheny County on Monday declared a judicial emergency — significantly limiting all court functions.
No new jury trial will begin, and in the criminal division, all cases are postponed outside of bail hearings and daily motions.
The move comes in response to statewide efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh also put restrictions into place.
Earlier Monday, the state Supreme Court declared a statewide judicial emergency authorizing every judicial district in the state to do the same through April 14.
As part of the judicial emergency, time calculations for individual cases can be suspended; additional advanced communication technology can be used to conduct court proceedings; and Rule 600, which provides a mandatory period of time by which a criminal defendant is entitled to go to trial, can be suspended.
Under an emergency declaration, the state Supreme Court said, the president judge in each county must arrange for the “provision of essential judicial services, including, by way of example, arraignments and bail establishment hearings, protection from abuse act proceedings, where absent such proceedings there would be a threat of domestic violence, and/or injunction proceedings, where absent such proceedings there would be the threat of irreparable harm.”
In Allegheny County, the motions counter will remain open for emergency motions, and defendants who wish to turn themselves in on bench warrants to pretrial services may continue to do so.
In the civil division, jury trials are suspended, and nonjury trials will be decided on a case-by-case basis, the order said.
In family court, conferences and hearings for support, custody, equitable distribution and divorce are postponed, but emergency motions and bench warrant hearings will be heard.
Protection from abuse matters will continue as normal.
In juvenile court, matters will be handled on a case-bycase basis.
In orphan’s court, involuntary civil commitment hearings will continue as scheduled, and motions will continue to be heard at 9:30 a.m.
Eight magistrate court offices and Pittsburgh Municipal Court will remain open while the rest of the county’s magistrate courts will be closed. Cases there are postponed, and execution of orders for eviction or repossession of residential properties are stayed.
The courts will be available for injunctive relief relating to public health concerns, such as taking of residential property, ejection, eviction and other public health issues.
Housing court shall be restricted to emergency motions regarding evictions.
Late Friday, Allegheny County court administrators said jurors summoned for service between March 16 and 20 would not be required to report for duty, as no new jury trials would be picked this week.
The notice, though, did ask that any juror report who had already been picked to serve.
On Sunday, two judges from the criminal division of Common Pleas Court issued a memo announcing that, effective Tuesday, they were postponing all cases in their courtrooms.
The memo, issued by Judges Kelly Bigley and Susan Evashavik DiLucente, said that cases from March 17 to at least April 3 will be postponed. Attorneys, they wrote in the memo, are required to obtain new dates in advance of their next scheduled appearance.
In addition, the judges said all parties to a case, including defendants, witnesses and interested parties, should be contacted to avoid an unnecessary trip to the courthouse.
“As this is a fluid situation, further changes may be necessary in the coming days that may extend these policies,” they wrote.
On Monday, Judges Bigley and Evashavik DiLucente explained why they took action.
“We believed the safety and well-being of the attorneys, witnesses, parties and court staff was better served by postponing hearings until a court-wide policy was instituted,” they said in a statement.