Mar 17, 2020
Monday Morning Memo | Most Courts Are Shutting Down For The Corona Virus But The Next Part Even Shocked Us
Courts handle many legal disputes regardless of reason. But what happens when a worldwide pandemic shuts down our court systems?
Coronavirus Impact On The Court System and You
As of the writing of this article, the Supreme Court has been shut down. Not just that, several aspects of the federal government could follow suit. This is a major problem if you’re still owed fees from a debtor. So we’re going to break things down in this article so you’re prepared to handle what follows in the next 30 days after the courts have begun to shut down.
Court Proceedings Have Been Halted for 30 Days, Possibly Longer
What this means for everyone is that if you have a case against someone within the next week or so, expect the hearing to be in five weeks or more. This also affects updates with collections as you’ll have to wait an additional four weeks before you can get that update. Everything has been put in frozen animation. It’s as if they’re halting the calendar as if it doesn’t exist.
Sue Someone Later Not Now
We highly recommend that you put off suing someone. This is mainly because of how courts have closed their doors but also because of how an attorney will still charge you for their services even if nothing is going to happen until way later. In this case it’s going to be thirty days or more.
Weaker Companies Won’t Survive The Downturn
According to Wilson, if a company was having trouble before the pandemic, they’re going to be struggling even more now. Some of them may not even survive to open their doors after the thirty day court shut down. This is similar to 9/11 but in slow motion, and you’re going to see a number of already struggling companies not make it.
Bankruptcy Courts and The Ninety Day Stay
Bankruptcy courts have also been hit with closures. What this means is that the ninety day stay period has also been paused. This means that the previous wait of ninety days to six months is now extended to over a year.
Prediction for The Future?
According to Samantha, she predicts that the courts could end up closed for as long as sixty days and resume very basic operations by then. The only situation where this won’t be the case and courts can open earlier is if a cure for the coronavirus comes out soon. Everyone could end up feeling the after effects of the pandemic for the next eighteen to twenty four months. A backlog of cases will also be an issue for the courts to handle.
The Silver Lining
One thing that Wilson touched on is that it isn’t just doom and gloom for some businesses. The storm will be weathered and when you come out the other side, you’ll be in a much better position. This is because of how some of your weaker competitors will be out of the picture.
Quotes
-It’s 9/11 in slow motion, so you're gonna see companies that were in trouble not make
It
- Stay calm and all of that good stuff and these storms weather through and when you make it out the other side you'll be in much better position because some of your weaker competitors won't be there