Cayman: Judicial Administration Coronavirus COVID-19 Update – Level 3 implemented
In accordance with CIG COVID – 19 Continuity of Operations Plan, Judicial Administration has now implemented its Level 3 procedures which are to initiate SOCIAL DISTANCING PROTOCOLS and deliver ESSENTIAL COURT SERVICES only as a means of protecting staff and court users alike. This change of operations comes into effect Tuesday, March 17, 2020, until further notice.
Full details are given below. You can also get the details on the Judicial website at https://www.judicial.ky.
RECEPTION
Please be advised that reception services have been restricted and access to staff should be primarily done through telephone contact, by calling 949-4296. If you need to drop off mail, please drop the mail off at the reception drop off box located at the reception area at the main building. If you have other queries regarding other court business, please direct your queries to the relevant department, whose contact details and change of operations are set out in this alert.
COURT ATTENDANCE
Summary Court
All court users are advised that court attendance is still required for your hearings for the time being. Please contact the appropriate registry if you have questions.
If you have difficulty attending court on your expected date, please contact the appropriate registry before your required court attendance.
A staggered attendance policy will be implemented for larger hearings to ensure adherence to the 50 person limit prescribed by The Public Health Law, Control of COVID-19 Regulations, 2020.
Members of the public who are to attend the following hearings, in particular, should look out for the staggered attendance policy:
· Traffic Court ( Mondays only)– defendants with last names “A-M” are to report to court 10:00 a.m.; defendants with last names “N-Z” are to report to court at 11:00am.
· Summary Court Mentions ( Tuesdays only) defendants with last names “A-M” are to report to court 10:00 a.m.; defendants with last names “N-Z” are to report to court at 11:00 am.
To find out more about your court hearing, please check our court lists at https://www.judicial.ky/courts/cause-lists-all and listen for radio announcements on Radio Cayman.
Contacts
Website: https://www.judicial.ky/courts/cause-lists-all
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Tel: Help Desk – 244-3867
JURY
Information to be updated for April 1st Jury Service.
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 244-3867
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE SERVICES
Court JP services are currently suspended until further notice.
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Grand Court Case Progression
Meetings & Appointments: With immediate effect, face to face appointments and meetings are suspended with the Case Progression Officer. All appointments, requests, meetings are to be conducted with the Case Progression Office by email or telephone at [email protected] or 244-3871
Preparation of Bundles: Binders and papers brought to the Court are potential conveyers of the virus, these should be prepared and handled applying appropriate safety/sanitization measures and must not be handled/delivered to the Registry by staff or persons who are ill.
Criminal Registry
Internal Agencies: All Government Agencies are being asked to utilize the Criminal Drop Box located in the Reception Area of the main court building for filing charges. The box will be cleared at 9:15 am every morning. All Charges will be processed and forwarded to the Office of the DPP
Court Search: Court search and file inspections are suspended until further notice.
Court Attendance: See Court Attendance Section above.
Preparation of Bundles: Binders and papers brought to the Court are potential conveyers of the virus, these should be prepared and handled applying appropriate safety/sanitization measures and must not be handled/delivered to the Registry by staff or persons who are ill.
Contacts
Email: [email protected]
Tel: Help Desk – 244-3867
TRAFFIC TICKETS
· Traffic tickets are still to be paid on time. New hours of operation for the Finance Centre ( Kirk House Albert Panton Street) is 9:00am to 1:00pm.
· Customers are advised that even if your ticket has not been transferred to the Court’s Officer from the RCIPS, that with immediate effect, court staff will process the ticket upon production to allow payment.
· Judicial Administration is taking steps to determine whether interim online payments can be made. This page will be updated if this becomes possible.
CIVIL REGISTRY
Articled Clerks
· Registration of Articles of Clerks are to be done electronically, hard copies can be delivered at the designated drop off times
Filings
· The Court will continue to accept filings but our procedures are now modified;
· Filings are to be submitted by email between at any time 9:00 am to 5:00 am, the first instance by emailing[email protected]. Provisional filings received by email will receive an acknowledgement of receipt.
· These email filings will be treated as provisional filings and will be accepted pending receipt of hard copy documents on the same day.
· To limit human interaction, dropped-off filings should be accompanied by a cheque/draft. In-person payments are discouraged at this time;
· There are two drop off / pick up times daily. These are 11:00 am and 2:00 pm for the time being.
· Physical documents will not be accepted outside of the new reduced hours;
· All dropped off filings should be accompanied with a cheque/draft. In- person payments are discouraged at this time;
· Processed documentation may be collected or will be placed in the respective boxes.
Preparation of Bundles
Binders and papers brought to the Court are potential conveyers of the virus. These should be prepared and handled applying appropriate safety/sanitization measures and must not be handled/delivered to the Registry by staff or persons who are ill.
Clerk of Court – Swearing
· Persons attending upon the Clerk of Court for swearing of affidavits for admissions, notary and justice of peace, will be accommodated via video link/zoom for attestation. Draft documents are to be provided electronically as usual. Applicants will retain the original once sworn via zoom, the document can then be lodged with the Registry for final processing and receipt of payment. Receipts will be sent electronically once processed and thereafter placed in the respective boxes for collection. Appointments can be made to [email protected] or [email protected]
File Inspections
· File Inspections are temporarily suspended until further notice.
Court Searches
· Court search service continues to be available. Access to court search services are currently restricted from 11:00am to 2:00pm daily and can accommodate only 2 persons at any given time. It is recommended that law firms reach out to the civil registry help desk to book a standing appointment time, whilst the court has restricted services.
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Help Desk Tel: 244-3842
FAMILY PROCEEDINGS UNIT
Filings
· The Court will be accepting filings in the first instance via email.
· There are two drop off / pick up times daily. These are 11:00 am and 2:00 pm for the time being.
· Physical documents will not be accepted outside of the new reduced hours;
· Processed documentation may be collected or will be placed in the respective boxes.
· All dropped-off filings should be accompanied with a Cheque. In-person payments are discouraged at this time;
· Physical documents will not be accepted outside of these hours;
· Processed documentation may be collected or will be placed in the respective boxes.
· Urgent Applications: At this time, only URGENT applications will be heard by the court. These are domestic violence and child protection cases only.
Walk-Ins & Telephone Appointments
· All Walk-in/face-to-face client appointments are suspended until further notice;
· Access to the FPU Unit will be granted by appointments only, assessment of each application is to be done to determine whether the matters can be dealt with by phone or zoom attendance.
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Help Desk Tel: 244-3896
FINANCE CENTRE
Hours of Operation
Finance Centre will be operating reduced cash services. Cash Offices will be open only from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm daily.
Cheque Payments
All court clients are advised personal pick-up of cheques is suspended for the time being. Cheques will be mailed to clients until further notice. Clients are encouraged to provide the Finance Centre with alternative means of payment, preferably online banking information.
Invoices
All vendors are asked to submit invoices to [email protected] to reduce risk of physical contact with contaminated documents.
Vendors are also invited to submit their banking details to the Finance Centre so that bills may be paid online.
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Help Desk Tel: 244-3890
COURT FUNDS
To limit crowding at our reception area and risk of cross-contamination, court fund maintenance clients who receive funds are urgently asked to sign onto our online banking service by completing our bank form and submitting it to [email protected]
Court Funds Online Banking Authorisation Form
For those clients who must receive cheques at this time. Cheque collection is now restricted to Mondays only from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Old Scotia Building.
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 244-3807
LEGAL AID DEPARTMENT
Essential services currently being prioritized by the Legal Aid Department are the following:
· Urgent child protection and domestic violence applications
· Urgent criminal matters with imminent court dates and such related issues; and
· Urgent constitutional matters
At this time, please consider whether your case is urgent and fits into the above criteria before applying to the Legal Aid Department. If your request is urgent, please state the nature of the urgency. All other matters will be treated as non-essential and non-urgent services and will only be dealt with after urgent matters have been completed and based on staff availability.
Contact Limitations
All client interviews at the Legal Aid Office are now suspended, save and except for persons with disabilities or special needs that require personal assistance with urgent matters. For urgent matters, court users may be provided with limited access to the Legal Aid Staff, by appointment only, at the first window at the Criminal Registry located at the Main Court Building.
All other legal aid essential court services are to be conducted via email or telephone.
Filing of Urgent Legal Aid Applications
Court users are encouraged to submit legal aid applications via email or mail-in applications. Placed in the designated Legal Aid Drop-Off Box located in the Main Court Building.
Legal Aid form is pdf writable and can be completed, signed and sent via email with the supporting documents. This form is attached below.
Civil and Family Legal Aid Form – Intake Procedures Checklist
List of Approved Legal Aid Attorneys: Civil & Criminal
Once your completed application has been received, you will receive an email confirmation acknowledging receipt of your email. If the application is granted, you will receive a second email detailing the terms of the legal aid grant. The email confirmation with the details of the grant of legal aid will be sufficient for you to act until the certificate is provided.
Certificates will be provided at this time by mail.
If legal aid is refused, you will receive an email confirmation on the refusal. The application for reconsideration under section 37 of the Law, can be made via email setting out the detailed reasons for reconsideration.
Other Business
Listed Attorneys are now to engage the Legal Aid Office via telephone or email. This includes submission of all requests and documents. All extension requests, bills of costs/duty counsel claims and other matters can be sent via email with documents attached and if required, the signed hard copies of documents can be dropped off at the Legal Aid dropbox.
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 345-244-3828/345-244-3889/ 345-326-0512/ 345-326-0856 or/ 345-326-0182
COURT ADMINISTRATION
Whilst we look forward to continuing to serve you, please be advised that at this time, that Judicial Administration has initiated a number of social distancing protocols and very limited face to face contact is permitted at this time.
If you need to contact general Court Administration, you may do so via email or telephone at the following addresses and telephone numbers:
Contacts
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Tel: 244-3821
