UPDATE – Thursday, March 19, 2020 – 5:15 p.m.

45072c445d137b7044d687181c3af1f31e362d92

California Superior Local Rules

March 19, 2020 UPDATE – Thursday, March 19, 2020 – 5:15 p.m. COURT CLOSURE DUE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) Santa Ana, CA – In response to the health concerns raised by the coronavirus (COVID- 19) pandemic, Orange County Superior Court will be closed at all locations for approximately two weeks, from Tuesday, March 17, 2020 through Friday, March 27, 2020. Pursuant to the provisions of Government Code

section 68115, at the Court’s request California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has issued an emergency order permitting the closing the Court’s facilities to the public, at least until March 30, 2020, with certain exceptions, as noted below. For purposes of computing certain court- related deadlines, the closure will be considered a public holiday. The closures are in response to the unique and continuing public safety challenge presented by the coronavirus.

Public health orders now prohibit most public gatherings. (http://www.ochealthinfo.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=114363) Court will open in a limited capacity addressing essential hearings as you can see laid out below, by case type. The Court appreciates the careful balance that must be maintained between the timely administration of justice and the protection of public health and safety. Importantly, this closure is not in response to a specific notice of exposure at any Court facility or to any Court staff.

Instead, it is in an abundance of caution to help limit the spread of the virus and the potential for future exposure. Employees are expected to report to work as usual. CIVIL & SMALL CLAIMS LAW: 1. The court will be available for the following Civil related services: Superior Court of California County of Orange News Release Public Information Office Contact: Kostas Kalaitzidis, (657) 622-7097 PIO@occourts.org

➢ Civil Temporary Restraining Orders ➢ Emergency Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVRO) ➢ Emergency Ex-parte Lock-out Matters (UD) ➢ Emergency Civil Temporary Injunctions (CRC 3.1150) Requests can be submitted either via email or by paper filing as follows: ➢ Email: Submit applicable forms/petitions (and fee waiver if applicable) to CivilUrgent@occourts.org (Note: eFiling should not be used for these filings) ➢ Paper: Alternatively, submit applicable forms/petitions in person at the Civil filing counter lobby at Central Justice Center ➢ Self Help Services will be available onsite at CJC ➢ Once reviewed by the court, • If filed in person, the order will be provided to petitioner • If filed via email, the order will be sent to petitioner via email and certified copies via mail ➢ If filing fees are due, notice of fees due will be included and fees will be collected at the next court hearing For information regarding Restraining Orders, please visit the court’s website at www.occourts.org and https://california.tylerhost.net/SRL 2.

Law enforcement emergency GVRO requests will continue to be supported via the on-call EPO Referee process. 3. All other Civil matters scheduled within the closure period will be continued by the court, with notice to all parties, as follows: ➢ OSC Re Civil Harassment will be extended and rescheduled for 14 days ➢ OSC Re GVRO will be extended and rescheduled for 14 days ➢ All other Civil matters, including Unlawful Detainer (UD) matters, will be rescheduled to a date after March 27, 2020. 4.

Small Claims trials and Small Claims Appeals set within the next 45 days are postponed and will be reset to a date after May 4, 2020. PROBATE/ MENTAL HEALTH: 5. The court will be available for Elder Abuse Temporary Restraining Orders. Request can be submitted via paper filing or electronically as follows: ➢ Email: Submit applicable forms/petitions to EATRO@occourts.org

➢ Paper: Alternatively, submit applicable forms/petitions in person at the Probate filing counter lobby at Central Justice Center ➢ Self Help Services will be available onsite at CJC ➢ Following judicial review, ▪ If filed in person, the order will be provided to petitioner ▪ If filed via email, the order will be sent to petitioner via email and certified copies via mail For information regarding Elder Abuse Restraining Orders, please visit the court’s website at www.occourts.org and https://california.tylerhost.net/SRL 6. Petitions for Writs of Habeas Corpus- LPS will continue to be heard in Department 9. 7.

Riese Petition Hearings will continue to be heard at each facility and will be conducted by Riese Hearing Officers. If the hearing officers become unavailable, the matters will be heard through Department C9. 8. Emergency Ex-parte hearings will continue to be heard and shall be filed via eFiling. 9.

All other Probate matters scheduled within the closure period will be continued by the court, with notice to all parties, as follows: ▪ OSC Re Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse hearings will be extended and rescheduled for 14 days. ▪ All other Probate matters will be rescheduled to a date after March 27, 2020 FAMILY LAW: As a result of COVID-19, Family Law Court is temporarily closed. All non-emergency matters through April 6th are being continued by order of the Court.

For domestic violence cases pending a hearing prior to April 6th, the hearing and temporary restraining orders are being automatically extended an additional 25 days for good cause. New hearing dates can be found on the court’s public website under online case access, http://www.occourts.org/online-services/case-access/. Emergency Matters: 1. The Court has established an electronic submission process to receive domestic violence restraining orders and emergency child custody requests that involve an imminent threat of injury or death to a child. Assistance for the public needing emergency help 1.

Family law has provided an email address to the public to receive help with electronic submissions, efiling@occourts.org.

2. A direct line has been set up for public contact, 657-622-6504. Bilingual staff is available to answer phones. 3. The email and address are posted on the court’s public website. No other business will be conducted or non-urgent electronic submissions will be accepted. JUVENILE LAW: Effective Thursday, March 19, 2020, Juvenile Court will reopen a limited number of courtrooms for detention hearings: • One delinquency/juvenile justice courtroom will be open for juvenile justice detention hearings. Only the child and his/her parent(

s) or custodial caregiver and retained or appointed counsel will be allowed into the courtroom. Parties and attorneys may appear via telephone or video. • One dependency courtroom will be open in order to conduct dependency detention hearings. All parties and their appointed or retained counsel will be allowed into the courtroom. Parties and attorneys may appear via telephone or video. • An additional courtroom may open to address both juvenile justice and dependency courtroom overflow.

Emergency Matters: The Court will address, via electronic submission, those orders that involve immediate risk or irreparable injury to the physical and emotional health of a child. The Court’s Juvenile Law 24-7 duty obligations will continue as in the past regarding any protective custody warrants, probable cause declarations, duty calls from the juvenile facilities, as well as any emergency orders. All other matters will be continued. No other juvenile court business will be conducted during this emergency. The Juvenile Court Clerk’s office will remain closed.

SELF HELP: During this time, the Self-Help Center will only be providing services in the lobby at the Central Justice Center on emergency matters relating to temporary civil harassment restraining orders, elder abuse restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and gun violence restraining orders. For all other matters, please contact the Self‐Help Center by phone or email at: Lamoreaux Justice Center (657) 622-6630 LJCSHC@occourts.org

Central Justice Center (657) 622-7577 CJCSHC@occourts.org JURY SERVICES: Jurors who have been summoned to appear during this time period are not required to appear for juror duty. Jurors who are currently impaneled and sitting in a trial should contact their courtrooms for further instructions. CRIMINAL LAW: Criminal law processes are pending and will be announced very soon. (See attachment). The Court will be providing additional details in the next hours and days, so please check the Court website – https://www.occourts.org - for updates.

We encourage the public to use the available online services on the Court’s website https://www.occourts.org/online-services/ Such online services include: • The payment of traffic tickets (https://www.occourts.org/directory/traffic/payments-extensions.html • Contact with Self-Help (https://www.occourts.org/self-help/) • Accessing case information (https://www.occourts.org/online-services/case- access/) • Accessing forms and information on eFiling documents with the Court (https://www.occourts.org/online-services/efiling/ ) • Establishing online payment plans, (https://cupportal.occourts.org/home ) • and many others.

The public is encouraged to refer to the OC Healthcare Agency website for up-to-date information about COVID-19 symptoms: http://www.ochealthinfo.com/phs/about/epidasmt/epi/dip/prevention/novel_coronavirus More information will be released as it becomes available, please visit our Court News on the web to find updates. # # #

Document details

Collection	California Superior Local Rules
Citation	45072c445d137b7044d687181c3af1f31e362d92
Type	court_rule
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	CA_LOCAL
Identifier	45072c445d137b7044d687181c3af1f31e362d92

Source file is stored in the law ingest library (pdf).