Louisiana State Bar Association President Robert A. Kutcher said that the reopening of Louisiana’s court system after the COVID 19 shutdown seems to be going smoothly.
“We have not received any complaints about the reopening of the court system,” he told the Louisiana Record.
All jury trials, both civil and criminal, have been continued until the end of June. How the resumption of jury trials will proceed safely in some of Louisiana’s older courtrooms is concerning, Kutcher said.
“We have a lot of old courthouses that don’t have a lot of space. Given the recommendations by the CDC, I think it is going to be difficult to implement the safety recommendations,” Kutcher said. “It will have to be done on a courthouse by courthouse basis,” he said.
Because courts have been closed for two-and-a-half months, there is a considerable backlog of cases, he said. “Chief judges in consultation with district court judges are making their determinations as to how best to handle reopening,” he said.
“Everybody is anxious to get back to what we perceived as normal before, but there are going to have to be changes. I think we just have to see how it goes,” he said.
Under the COVID 19 restrictions, judges were encouraged to conduct all court matters by remote conferencing, which has been going fairly well, he said.
“I know there has been an increase in telephone conferences. I know there has been an increase in video conferences. I think we all have to play it by ear and take it step by step,” he said.
For any legal case, whether criminal or civil, there is a time limit on when the case can be filed in court. Louisiana’s statute of limitations laws define the time period in which a lawsuit must be filed. The statute restricts prosecutors from charging for the commission of a crime after a specified number of years.
Gov. John Bel Edwards extended the statute of limitations in Louisiana through June 5. Several bills in the legislature are seeking to extend that deadline further. Kutcher expects one of those bills to pass, he said.