Maryland Courts now Closed through June 5, 2020

On April 14, 2020,  the Court of Appeals of Maryland issued a Second Amended Administrative Order Expanding and Extending Statewide Judiciary Restricted Operations Due to the COVID-19 Emergency.  Courts will remain closed through June 5, 2020.

How does that affect your case?  My experience in Baltimore County has been as follows:

  • If you had a trial scheduled between now and June 5, 2020, it will be reset.  My understanding is that it will not be reset until June 5, 2020, meaning you will not know your trial dates until some time after June 5, 2020 as the courts catch up.  If you have a specially assigned judge, this may differ and your judge may be able to set you in for new dates, post June 5th of course, but at least you know when your new dates are.
  • If you had a settlement conference scheduled between now and June 5, 2020 and both parties are represented, the settlement conference will still occur on the same date remotely, but perhaps at a different time, with a sitting judge (as opposed to a retired judge).  In my experience, the lawyers will receive an e-mail the week beforehand informing counsel of the new time and who the sitting judge will be.  So far, these have been through Webex or telephone.
  • If your matter is settled, and if both parties are represented, it is possible that your matter will be heard remotely.

As always, please talk with your counsel with regard to your case and any questions you may have with rescheduling your dates.

Opinions and conclusions in this post are solely those of the author unless otherwise indicated. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and is not offered and cannot be considered as legal advice for any particular situation. The author has provided the links referenced above for information purposes only and by doing so, does not adopt or incorporate the contents.