HOW have the Courts been navigating the pandemic so far?
There has not been much changes. The vast majority of court hearings remain virtual, (that is, being conducted via an application on the computer called Microsoft Teams). Filings of court documents are still being done electronically. Also still in place are extremely limited physical access to the courts, e.g., to submit originals of electronically filed applications for probate by appointments.
However, there have been a few changes taking place in the last six months. Five of them are summarised below.
Time has restarted on the four-year time limit to sue. Time restarted on May 3, 2022 (see Legal Notice 292 of 2021 – The Limitation of Certain Actions (Extension of Period) (No. 3) Order, 2021 – available online). Thus, when calculating if you are within the four-year time limit to sue for matters based on contract and tort law, the period from March 27, 2020 to May 2, 2022 are not counted.
Jury trials restarted on March 14, 2022. Jurors must be socially distanced in the courtroom and during deliberations. Jurors will not be made to sit shoulder to shoulder with any person. However, there is an obligation on jurors who feel unwell or who have been exposed to a Covid-19 positive person to inform the Judge, Registrar and Marshall immediately. See the judiciary’s Practice Direction No. 20 on Court Operations dated March 11, 2022 – available online.
The Court of Appeal has implemented Case Management Conferences to tackle delay. For Civil and Family matters, commencing from March 2022, the Justices of the Court of Appeal organised themselves into three panels, called the Central Panel, the East Panel, and the West Panel. They took all the matters before the Court of Appeal and assigned one third of them to each panel. Case Management Conferences (a type of hearing used by judges to actively mange the progress of the matters to trial) are being carried out, replacing the Cause List process. The Court of Appeal intends to put itself in a position to complete matters within at least 24 months of filing.
Filing fees are waived. Currently and until further notice, by virtue of the Practice Direction on Court Operations No. 19 – available online, the fees paid to file documents in civil, family and petty civil court matters, but also for caveats and appearances in the probate registry, are not being charged.
Office copies are being issued electronically. This is the case for all office copies being issued by the Registrar of the Supreme Court. An office copy is a document which the court authenticates as being a true copy of the original. Popular office copies are for orders of the court and grants of probate and letters of administration.
Disclaimer:The contents of this article are for general informational purposes only and/or contain the opinions and/or thoughts of the writer only. It does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. For legal advice on your specific situation, please contact an Attorney-at-Law of your choosing directly. Liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever allegedly incurred as a consequence of relying on content in this article is thus hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Latest Pandemic Developments in the Courts
HOW have the Courts been navigating the pandemic so far?
There has not been much changes. The vast majority of court hearings remain virtual, (that is, being conducted via an application on the computer called Microsoft Teams). Filings of court documents are still being done electronically. Also still in place are extremely limited physical access to the courts, e.g., to submit originals of electronically filed applications for probate by appointments.
However, there have been a few changes taking place in the last six months. Five of them are summarised below.
Be safe T&T!
Copyright © 2022 Neela Ramsundar, LL.B (HONS), L.E.C is a Civil Litigation Attorney at Law & Certified Mediator.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are for general informational purposes only and/or contain the opinions and/or thoughts of the writer only. It does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. For legal advice on your specific situation, please contact an Attorney-at-Law of your choosing directly. Liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever allegedly incurred as a consequence of relying on content in this article is thus hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.