As most of you are aware, many solicitors firms are closed to the public now and the majority of them are now working from home.
But what about the Civil Courts? Are they still open as usual? Are cases still being heard?
As of 30 March 2020, the Courts are putting in place an emergency plan separating the Court and Tribunal cases into three different categories.
These categories are as below:
- Courts that will remain open for all purposes (open courts) – these include hearings where the judge and at least some of the parties are present.
- Courts which will remain staffed (staffed courts) – where judges may attend to deal with administrative matters and some remote hearings.
- Courts which will not be staffed (suspended courts).
Which cases are deemed to be important and which ones carry priority?
The following matters are considered to be a priority by the Courts.
Priority 1: Work which must be done
This category includes Committals, Freezing Orders, Injunctions, noise or interference with property, anti-social behaviour/harassment injunctions, applications to stay enforcement of existing possession orders, custodial matters, homelessness applications, applications where there are a substantial hearing listed in the next 3 months, all multi-track hearings where all parties agree that the matter is urgent and appeals in all these cases.
Priority 2: Work which could be done
This category includes infant and protected party approvals, trials involving the survival of a business or the solvency of an individual, enforcement of trading contracts, applications for summary judgements for specified sums, applications to set aside default judgements, applications for security of costs, small claims/fast track trials where all parties agree that it is urgent, preliminary assessment of costs and appeals in all of these cases.
More details about these categories are provided on https://www.gov.uk/government/new/priority-courts-to-make-sure-justice-is-served
