PART 13: THE LITIGATION BLOCKS ARE GETTING SHAKY AS COVID-19 PERSISTS

As both the memorable and forgettable year of 2020 comes to a close, a new COVID-19 wrinkle has hit the already faltering court system. The media has been dominated by the emergence of a Coronavirus vaccine with very promising clinical results. The news coming from the court system, however, has been dominated by reports of starts and shutdowns of jury trials. Recently, both the states of New York and New Jersey halted all jury trials due to COVID concerns. Even in more “aggressive” states, there have been substantial problems with jury trials.      

In North Carolina, a criminal jury trial was attempted. This was the first jury empaneled in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) since March of this year. Yet, the case just recently ended in a mistrial after several jurors became concerned about COVID exposure and at least one tested positive. Well, so much for precautions. Given the bad outcome for this criminal jury, the trial judge then was compelled to notify all jurors and court personnel involved of potential exposure and the need to be tested. Not exactly progress or justice.

But what happens with the court-system after a vaccine is released? Will we need fully vaccinated jurors, parties, and judges to proceed? How long will it take to achieve full vaccinations in practical terms? I surmise that the first doses of the vaccine are not likely going to potential jurors. The number of vaccines available in the first few weeks of 2021 are going to be a drop-in-the-bucket of what is needed to stop the transmission of the virus in place like the courts.

The SDL has thrown out many solutions to attack the massive (and growing) court backlog of cases. I am not the only concerned attorney who has sounded this alarm by far. Given the vaccine rollout, if we add another six to nine months of backlog to the court-system (with no solution in sight), my guess is that we pulled out the fragile block making the “Jenga” tower of litigation collapse.