Coronavirus and Southern California court closures: No jury duty and traffic ticket extensions

As state courthouses across Southern California remain largely closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, anyone receiving jury duty notices mailed out before the shut-downs is not expected to show up and those facing traffic tickets have been granted a grace period.

Local superior courts — with the permission of the California chief justice and direction from the agenda-setting state Judicial Council — have ceased the bulk of their operations in the midst of the pandemic, focusing largely on emergency and time-sensitive hearings.

The shutdowns have also led to a 60-day suspension of jury trials. Local judges presiding over specific trials have the power to start or re-start trials if they believe there is “good cause” to do so, but few have taken that step.

As a result, court officials say that anyone who receives a jury duty notice during the current closure period is not expected to report to the closed-to-the-public courthouses. Notifications informing jurors not to come in for jury duty have been placed on the websites for state courthouses across Southern California, including those in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“People that receive (jury) summonses during the court closure do not have to serve at this time,” said Kostas Kalaitzidis, an Orange County Superior Court spokesman. “We do appreciate their willingness to serve and we hope that they can serve in the future.”

“Jury service is an important, critical function to the judicial system,” he added.

In effect, the jurors with reporting dates falling during the court closure have been excused from jury service. In Orange County, that means they will not be called in again for at least a year, Kalaitzidis said.

Jurors who were already seated on trials suspended due to the closures have been told to keep in contact with the court clerks for the courtrooms to which they are assigned.

Federal courts have also halted jury trials during the pandemic. A general order issued last month covering the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California noted that jurors are not being called in for either criminal or civil trials.

Local court systems have also announced extensions for traffic citation hearings, as well as the deadlines for which motorists are required to take care of their tickets.