Judges hold back deluge
Tech keeps cases moving, but ‘horrible backlog’ looms
Before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered his courtroom in late March, Lehigh County District Justice Rashid Santiago had hundreds of cases on his calendar. Landlord-tenant disputes, truancy hearings, small claims civil matters and all sorts of criminal cases.
When health officials decide it’s safe to reopen Pennsylvania’s courthouses to the public — perhaps next month, or the month after that, or even
later — most of those cases will still be waiting for Santiago’s attention, along with matters filed since the pandemic began.
“My staff is starting to reschedule things, cautiously,” Santiago said. “We can’t just open the floodgates and have 50 hearings in one day. Especially if we’re going to need to keep social distancing.”
Courts across the region are stepping up their use of technology to keep dockets moving. Teleconferencing systems such as Zoom are being used to conduct all types of hearings, with litigants, witnesses, judges and attorneys logging in remotely and communicating through a row of screens.
But some matters, including jury trials, cannot be decided remotely. That has some attorneys worried that they’ll be playing catch-up for months, while their clients wait for justice.
“It’s a concern,” said attorney Kimberly Krupka, who was preparing for jury selection in a medical malpractice trial in late March when COVID-19 struck, forcing a postponement. “I think the courts are doing the best they can to keep things moving, but it’s a question of how to keep people safe.”
After closing courthouses to the public in mid-March, the state Supreme Court last month ordered county courts to resume most operations by May 4, stressing that technology should be used to limit the number of people in court buildings. The order also directed courts to use technology to provide interested parties better access to proceedings that would usually be open to the public.