Effective May 18, the Judicial Branch will resume its daily schedule of civil pre-trials, trial management conferences, and status conferences. These events will be conducted remotely, either by video link or telephone. Participating lawyers will receive an e-mail with a link providing access to the event immediately prior. Those events that were scheduled to be held between March 23, 2020 and May 18, 2020, will be rescheduled in the near future.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has proven an incredible challenge to everyone involved with the legal system, and it is our hope that this is one in a number of steps that will enable Connecticut’s civil courts to get back up and running,” the Hon. James W. Abrams, chief administrative judge for civil matters, said. “With these events proceeding and the reinstatement of non-arguable short calendar, we are making concrete steps toward fulfilling our mission in a manner that holds paramount the safety interests of attorneys, litigants, and staff.”
Additionally, beginning on May 18, civil arguable motions on all IndiCal calendars that are marked “take papers” will be ruled on by judges remotely on the papers and processed remotely by court staff.
Since May 4, judges already have been ruling remotely on civil short calendar motions marked “take papers” on the non-arguable short calendar for all IndiCal calendars.
“Since the pandemic began, we have been looking for ways to do business beyond the Priority 1 matters that are currently being handled,” Chief Court Administrator Patrick L. Carroll III said. “This is just another step in our process to not only respond to the challenges presented by the pandemic, but to transform our courts for the foreseeable future.”
