Today the Court announced that it is proceeding to Phase 3 of the Court's reopening plan. According to the order, this means:
- Simultaneous jury trials (!)
- Reduction to 3 feet of social distancing
- Masking required in all common areas
- Masking in the courtroom is up to the individual judges
According to the Court's re-opening plan, this may also include a return to full staffing of the Clerk's Office (I'm not certain that hasn't already happened).
As set forth in the order, Phase 3 will start on June 7, 2021 which I believe is the start of the next scheduled jury trial.
The Phase 3 Transition Will Ease the June Jury Trial Calendar
As we noted last week, the D. Del. jury trial schedule for the end of June was looking crowded, and the Court's current one-jury-at-a-time rule might soon become a problem. This move will hopefully alleviate that, although the Court notes that it may only be able to hold one jury selection per day:
As of the date of this Order, the Court remains able to conduct only one jury trial at a time. It is expected that with the easing of social distancing requirements (see below) and improving health conditions the Court will soon be able to expand to conducting multiple simultaneous jury trials (although jury selection is likely to be limited to one trial per day).
Of course, it may take some time for the Court to deal with the backlog from more than a year's worth of unavoidably delayed jury proceedings. But many D. Del. attorneys and clients are definitely looking forward to having jury trials again!
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