On April 27, 2020, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a new
order limiting access to all state courts until June 1, 2020 to address
continued concerns arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Court had previously
limited access to the courts through May 4.
Under the new
Order only emergency matters, as defined by the respective courts, may be heard
in court. All non-emergency matters will continue to be addressed by telephone,
videoconference, email, electronic filing or other comparable means through
June 1. The Order postpones all jury trials in criminal and civil cases
until after July 1, 2020. The Court also continued all bench or judge-tried
cases until after June 1, 2020 unless they can be conducted virtually
by agreement of the parties. The dates of various events or deadlines
established by court rules, statutes, or established for a particular
case are also extended by the Order through June 1, 2020. All statutes
of limitation are tolled from March 17, 2020 to May 31, 2020. A copy of
the Order can be found
here.