In light of the national emergency due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), courts and law enforcement agencies at every level of Government have taken extraordinary actions:
FEDERAL
- For more information, see our prior posts.
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
- The Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court has entered a Third Omnibus Order, following its similar Orders dated March 27 and April 24. The Third Order extends the stay of certain court proceedings in criminal and civil matters, allows certain civil procedures to resume, and maintains certain revised procedures as previously ordered.
The Order extends through June 14 the stay on new jury trials (both civil and criminal); discovery involving physical or mental examinations; the time for filing affidavits of merit; residential evictions and landlord-tenant trials; Special Civil and small claims trials (unless all parties consent to a remote trial); and depositions and appearances of healthcare professionals, among other things.
The Order maintains the revised process for obtaining search warrants and communication data warrants; conducting remote proceedings; Municipal Court, Tax Court, Appellate Division, Foreclosure, and attorney discipline/fee arbitration matters, as previously ordered.
The Order allows the previously ordered stay to expire on: civil discovery deadlines; tolling for lack of prosecution of civil and family matters; track assignments; Tort Claims notices; civil pretrial discovery; involuntary civil commitment; discovery end dates; civil arbitration; and tolling of attorney discipline/fee arbitration matters, among others.
No new grand juries shall be empanelled or meet through June 14, except for remote grand juries proceeding under the Pilot Program for Virtual Grand Juries in Bergen and Hudson counties.
- For more information, see our prior posts.