The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
3 more courts to reopen, will expand hours
HARTFORD — The state Judicial Branch is expanding operations previously shut down by the pandemic, reopening courts and lengthening court hours.
Beginning June 29, the branch will be reopening courthouses in Danbury, Milford and Stamford.
The Danbury and Stamford courts had been closed after employees there had tested positive for COVID-19. The Milford court was closed as a precaution. All criminal business from the Stamford and Milford courts was moved to the Fairfield County Courthouse in Bridgeport. The criminal court business in Danbury was moved to the Waterbury courthouse.
The geographical area courts in Norwalk, Bridgeport and Derby will remain closed. Criminal business from Norwalk will go to the reopened Stamford court; the Derby court business will go to the reopened Milford court.
This reopening will bring the number of open courthouses to 17.
“We continue to plan for increasing expansion of the branch’s physical footprint and all business operations in a way that places personal safety of the public, the bar and employees at the forefront while also balancing the requirement to continue to provide expanded access,” said Chief Court Administrator Patrick L. Carroll III.
Beginning the week of June 15, courthouses will be operating Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Currently, courts are only open three days a week.
Starting the week of July 6, courthouses will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Carroll said most work within the open court locations will continue to focus on criminal arraignments for defendants held on bond, domestic violence cases, restraining orders, emergency child custody matters, juvenile detention hearings, and all other emergency matters.
“In addition to expanding courthouse locations, business operations have rapidly expanded across all divisions by the use of remote technology,” Carroll said.
In just a few weeks’ time he said family court has held over 600 remote status or settlement conferences and disposed of more than 300 divorce cases remotely. Civil court has conducted close to 1,000 remote events and has ruled on more than 7,000 short calendar matters, Carroll continued. Juvenile Court is holding remote detention hearings each day of operation and reviewing permanency plans remotely.