State halts evictions, wraps up trials as courts cut back to most ‘essential’ functions
The state court system has suspended all eviction orders and postponed “non-essential” court functions until further notice as New Yorkers contend with the unprecedented COVID-19 coronavirus emergency.
Ongoing criminal and civil trials will continue to their conclusion, but the courts will not commence any new trials and all staff should stay home unless “expressly notified” to come to work by their supervisors, the state’s chief administrative judge wrote in a memo to Unified Court System personnel Sunday.
“These initiatives are part of our continuing and evolving efforts to assure the operation of the courts in the safest possible manner for the public and our employees in this time of medical emergency,” said Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks in the memo to 17,000 court employees Sunday.
