The San Diego Superior Court will shut down its website (sdcourt.ca.gov) for routine maintenance on Saturday, May 9 from 6:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The website closure will affect all San Diego Superior Court webpages.

In the on-going effort to mitigate community spread of COVID-19, and in the interest of the health and safety of all Court visitors and employees, the San Diego Superior Court has received approval from the Judicial Council of California to extend the suspension of all non-emergency services through May 22, 2020. The Court will be closed in observance of Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, making the revised planned re-opening date Tuesday, May 26.

The San Diego Superior Court will begin hearing a few in-custody matters through videoconference on Monday, April 6. In cooperation with the Sheriff’s department, Public Defender’s office, defense counsel and the District Attorney’s office, video appearances will connect detainees in each of the County’s detention centers with courtrooms in the Central, North, South and East County Courthouses. The Court will test the new remote video system next week with the anticipation that preliminary hearings and arraignments will proceed by video in the coming weeks.

I have requested an emergency extension from the California Supreme Court Chief Justice for the San Diego Superior Court to remain closed through April 30, 2020. I have every reason to believe this request will be granted and thus, our Court will not be open for regular court business on Monday, April 6, 2020.

Organizations offering free help with emergency court services will continue to provide services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Court works with the Judicial Council of California, State Bar of California, San Diego County Bar Association, and local service providers to assist people in need of selfrepresented services. This includes clinic services in areas of law such as restraining orders and landlord-tenant disputes within San Diego’s courthouses.

In light of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye’s statewide Order allowing for a two-month suspension of jury trials, the San Diego Superior Court is dismissing all summoned jurors through May 22, 2020. These actions are done in the interest of community health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The San Diego Superior Court will completely close for all services during Cesar Chavez Day, March 31, 2020, and will reopen to continue providing only emergency services on April 1, 2020.

The San Diego Superior Court has added to the list of time-sensitive, essential functions that are available to provide additional emergency services during the COVID-19 Court Service Suspension. Effective March 24, 2020, the additional following services are now available:

To ensure all Court users understand what is available and what is impacted during the San Diego Superior Court’s service interruption, the Court will provide updates to the community as new information becomes available. To the extent this notice conflicts with any previous notices, the most current update shall govern.

In light of the Public Health Department’s weekend guidance of no more than 50 people in a room, the San Diego Superior Court is now asking all County residents summoned to appear the week of March 16th -19th in the Superior Court not to come to the courthouse. “Our community’s health is important to us all and while we had COVID-19 procedures in place to provide enough social distancing for summoned jurors in our jury services room, having a jury pool of 50 people will not provide us with enough people for fair trials,” says San Diego Superior Court Presiding Judge Lorna Alksne.

In an effort to promote the health and safety of court users and employees as well as mitigate community spread of the Covid-19/Coronavirus, The San Diego Superior Court has suspended all non-emergency services effective March 17, 2020-April 3, 2020:

EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BELOW, THE COURT WILL BE CLOSED FOR:

CRIMINAL

• All criminal proceedings including arraignments, readiness, pre-trial motions, trials and sentencing.

CIVIL

The San Diego Superior Court has developed procedures to ensure it is following the recommendations of State and County Public Health officials to ensure a safe environment for employees and Court users and to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The measures include: 

San Diego’s North County Superior Court continues its tradition of bringing students to the courthouse to talk about modern issues and their legal consequences during the 19th Annual Youth in Court Day. The event, sponsored by the North County Division of the San Diego Superior Court in conjunction with the North County Bar Assocation and The Lawyer Referral Service, will be held on Friday, March 6, 2020. More than 900 students are expected to attend the day-long event where they will be introduced to the court system to learn about present day problems that pass through the courthouse.

More than 600 Students Participated in Annual Program Cathedral Catholic High School’s Mock Trial team outperformed 31 other County High Schools to win the annual legal competition. The San Diego County Mock Trial program provides high school students with actual experience in courtrooms rather than learning about the rule of law from books and lectures. The student teams undertake the roles of lawyers and witnesses facing off on a hypothetical case in front of actual state and federal judges. The fourday competition was held at the downtown courthouse over the past three weeks.

Starting Monday, March 2, 2020 North County residents will no longer be required to drive to downtown San Diego to file their Probate matters. A dedicated Probate counter will be open in the Court’s Family/Civil Business Office located at 325 Melrose Drive in Vista. Court services dealing with decedents' estates, trusts, guardianship of minors, and conservatorship of adults who are unable to provide for their personal needs or manage their financial resources, were discontinued at the North County courthouse in 2012 as the Superior Court faced historic budget cuts.

An imaginary case involving self-driving vehicle technology, civic activism and a murder has drawn hundreds of local high school students into courtrooms for the 14th Annual San Diego County High School Mock Trial Competition. The annual event, sponsored by the San Diego Superior Court, the San Diego County Bar Association, and Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF), is a program that gives students hands-on experience in learning about the law and the Constitution. This year’s pretrial issue involves the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Judge Gale E. Kaneshiro, a jurist who spent a three-decade judicial career presiding over criminal and appellate cases, will officially retire from San Diego Superior Court on February 29, 2020. Appointed to the Municipal Bench in 1989 by then governor George Deukmejian, Judge Kaneshiro elevated to the Superior Court in 1998 through court consolidation. Judge Kaneshiro presided for more than two decades in criminal courtrooms and numerous high profile cases including: People v.

A well-known, experienced jurist who has presided over some of the court’s most high-profile cases is stepping down. Judge Louis R. Hanoian is retiring after serving more than 27 years on the bench. Appointed to the municipal bench in 1993 by then-governor Pete Wilson, Judge Hanoian elevated to the Superior Court in 1998 through court consolidation. Assigned to the East County courthouse at the beginning of his judicial career, he has spent the remainder of his time on the bench at the Central Courthouse downtown.

After a nearly seven-year absence, court reporters will once again be available in certain Family Court proceedings. Court reporters were eliminated from Family Court cases beginning in 2012, and further reduced in 2017 as the Superior Court faced unprecedented budget cuts. Beginning March 2, 2020, court reporters will now be available in all Family Court proceedings at court expense, with the exception of Family Law trials.