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 an effort to 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. All court days from March 17, 2020, to April 3, 2020, inclusive, will be deemed a court holiday for purposes of computing the time for filing papers with the court pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 12 and 12a. For more detailed information regarding the impact on other statutory deadlines, please see General Order No. 031820-34, which is posted on the Court’s website.
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SERVICES AVAILABLE DURING THIS PERIOD:
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- Chamber ex parte requests for civil harassment TROs, DVTROs, and Gun Violence Protective Orders.
- Emergency ex parte lockout proceedings (UD).
- One Family law judge at each branch will review ex parte requests for emergency TROs.
- One Juvenile judge will be available for dependency detention hearings and for emergency orders.
- One Probate judge will be available to cover emergency conservatorships and other emergency orders in Probate. Please email [email protected].
- All search warrants (day and night) will be electronic.
- Petitions for writ seeking emergency relief in unlawful detainer matters.
- Emergency writs challenging COVID-19 emergency measures
- Writs of habeas corpus challenging medical quarantines.
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SERVICES SUSPENDED 3/17/2020 – 4/3/2020:
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| Criminal |
- All criminal proceedings including arraignments, preliminary hearings, readiness hearings, pre-trial motions, trials, and sentencings will be rescheduled.
- Criminal defendants should contact their attorney.
- Criminal case attorneys: The Superior Court is developing a procedure for processing criminal cases suspended during this time period. Please monitor the San Diego Superior Court website sdcourt.ca.gov for updates
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| Civil |
- All Civil proceedings will be rescheduled except for those matters described above in available services.
- All Unlawful Detainer (UD) matters will be rescheduled except for those matters described above in available services.
- E-Filing and in-person filings are suspended.
- All Temporary Restraining Orders that would otherwise expire from March 17, 2020, to April 6, 2020, inclusive, will be automatically extended by 30 days, and a new Restraining Order hearing date will be set. For all such cases, the Court will be issuing orders continuing existing orders and assigning a new hearing date
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| Family |
- All Family Court departments are closed except for those matters described above in available services.
- All family and family support matters will be rescheduled
- All Family Court counseling and mediation matters will be rescheduled.
- The Family Law Facilitator’s Office will be closed to the public.
- All clinics and workshops have been cancelled.
- All Temporary Restraining Orders that would otherwise expire from March 17, 2020, to April 6, 2020, inclusive, will be automatically extended by 30 days, and a new Restraining Order hearing date will be set. For all such cases, the Court will be issuing orders continuing existing orders and assigning a new hearing date.
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| Traffic |
- All traffic matters will be rescheduled.
- All those cited to appear in Traffic Court will have a 30-day grace period to appear starting when the Court reopens all services (monitor sdcourt.ca.gov . for service updates).
- Limited traffic online services may available at sdcourt.ca.gov .
- If you currently have a license hold for a failure to appear, please contact us in person or via email at [email protected].
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| Small Claims |
- All Small Claims filings are suspended.
- All Small Claims matters will be rescheduled.
- The Small Claims Advisor will be closed.
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| Juvenile |
- All Juvenile Dependency and Delinquency matters will be rescheduled except for those matters described above in available services
- All adoption and citation calendars will be rescheduled.
- Juvenile case attorneys: The Superior Court is developing a procedure for processing Juvenile cases suspended during this time period. Please monitor the San Diego Superior Court website sdcourt.ca.gov .for updates.
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| Probate |
- All Probate hearings will be rescheduled to a new date by the clerk’s office except for those matters described above in available services. Parties will be informed of the new date by U.S. mail.
- All in-person visits by Court investigators and Court-approved attorneys for conservatorship cases will be suspended.
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If you have a case and have a case-specific question, you are asked to submit an email. Non-case specific questions will not be answered and the court will not accept documents submitted through these email boxes. Please be advised that your email and any attachments will not be included in the court file or be considered a court record, may not be preserved, and will not be forwarded to the judicial officer presiding over your matter as that would constitute an ex parte communication. You must include your name and case number:
Criminal and Juvenile defendants should contact their attorney.
Criminal and Juvenile case attorneys: The Superior Court is developing a procedure for processing criminal and juvenile cases suspended during this time period. Please monitor the San Diego Superior Court website sdcourt.ca.gov for updates.
In addition, effective March 17, 2020 – April 3, 2020, the Court will institute the following changes:
| Jury |
- All jurors summoned for the dates March 16, 2020-April 3, 2020, are not to report to the Courthouse. You have fulfilled your service. Jurors summoned past April 5, 2020, are to monitor this website for additional information
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| Workshops and Clinics |
- All workshops and clinics have been cancelled from March 16, 2020-April 3, 2020.
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| Volunteers |
- All Court Volunteers, including Temporary Judges and Justice Corps members, are not to report to their assigned Courthouses.
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| Court Researchers |
- All Court Research activities will be discontinued until after April 5, 2020. Please monitor sdcourt.ca.gov for any updated information on this activity.
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Please monitor the San Diego Superior Court website sdcourt.ca.gov for continued updated information.
