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. 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.