CHARLESTON – Chief Justice Tim Armstead says the state Supreme Court is monitoring the Coronavirus pandemic daily and already making plans for how to move forward.
“Our Supreme Court, our judges throughout the state and our dedicated staff, have been working diligently the past several weeks to address the unprecedented challenges the COVID-19 pandemic have presented,” Armstead told The West Virginia Record. “These challenges have included revising court rules and procedures to address social distancing requirements, relocating physical locations for hearings, providing our courts necessary computers, phones and equipment to perform their crucial work remotely and addressing the literally hundreds of unique challenges that have arisen in courts throughout the state.
“We have worked cooperatively with our judicial officers and other state agencies to ensure compliance with stay at home and social distancing directives.”
Douglas
Armstead said being safe is a top priority.
“A primary concern as we continue under the current Judicial Emergency Order, and as we eventually begin to modify the current measures, is the health and safety of our fellow West Virginians,” he said. “We are monitoring daily the efforts on a state and national level to address the pandemic. As we prepare for the day that health and other governmental officials determine that social distancing restrictions can begin to be relaxed, we will continue working with circuit judges, family court judges and magistrates to ensure that, with their input and efforts, the transition goes as smoothly as possible.
“This planning is already underway, and we realize – as has been the case throughout this challenge – that we must remain adaptable and coordinate these efforts with advice from our state's health experts.”
Armstead’s comments came in a response to questions regarding a letter send to the justices as well as circuit court judges and family court judges across the state by Kanawha Family Court Judge Jim Douglas. The Record obtained a copy of the emailed letter, which was dated April 14 and addressed to Armstead.
In the email, Douglas noted that the current Judicial Emergency Order is set to expire May 1.
“As a consequence of the wording therein, court cases across the state can impliedly be set and heard for Monday, May 4, 2020, onward,” Douglas wrote. “Incidentally, the contemplated, though not irrevocable, opening date of the Kanawha County Judicial Annex has been announced as being April 27, 2020, which generates something of a conundrum within itself.”
The Kanawha County Judicial Annex was closed last month when employees tested positive for Coronavirus. In total, seven employees and one spouse of an employee tested positive. The building since has been sanitized, and a handful of workers already are working there again, including Douglas.
Douglas – who is running for a seat on the state Supreme Court, but not Armstead’s spot – asked the Chief Justice for an urgent contingency plan and for guidelines for operation whenever courthouses are reopened.
“In essence, will there still be screenings at each of the 55 courthouses?” Douglas wrote. “Will parties and attorneys be allowed to attend hearings? Must litigants, attorneys, court personnel or circuit clerk staff wear masks or other PPE? Will there be controlled access in terms of the number of persons allowed in each circuit clerk office, court area, conference room or courtroom? How will real and documentary evidence be handled and preserved and by whom? How are witness appearances to figure in present person limitations? Will there be different distancing demands? Are doors to, from and at courtrooms and circuit clerk offices to be required to be open at all times? How will post-case filings and hearing areas be sanitized and by whom? How is the public to be instructed to participate in their proceedings?
“I trust you that you fully understand, anticipate, and appreciate the dilemma that will come as surely as the eventual sunrise within less than 16 days.”
Douglas also said preparations need to be made in the event of a second save of the virus.
“Even if the April 3, 2020, Administrative Order emergency stay is extended, preparation for a renewal of judicial functions and the general conduct of court will not spoil or be otherwise wasted,” Douglas wrote. “They will keep until invoked or imposed. One thing is certain ... we cannot conduct case filings, process files, and hold hearings as we did in the past.
“The time to act is now.”
Douglas concluded his letter was his “own musings” and that he was speaking for no other person, judge or group.
“Mr. Chief Justice, if there is a judicial start-up strategy, please advise us; if you want suggestions, please ask us; and if there is, God forbid, no plan, please tell us,” Douglas wrote. “My personal plea is to establish statewide and uniform conventions for the re-launch of the effective administration of justice and the redress of grievances, required by the State Constitution, Article III, Section 17.”
