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Ex. AGY-ST-COURTS-080 Order Primary source read

Supreme Judicial Court Seventh Updated Order Regarding Court Operations Under the Exigent Circumstances Created by the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic (entered July 1, 2021, effective July 12, 2021; amended Dec. 31, 2021 and Jan. 24, 2022)

Q3 2021 court-operations order: end of Phase 3 jury-trial limits on July 9, 2021 but continued COVID-19 provisions, including six-person juries in Superior and Housing Court civil cases 'with or without the consent of the parties', reduced peremptory challenges, and exclusion of the general-continuance periods from speedy-trial computation; rescinded effective Jan. 1, 2024

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts · Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (statewide) (Court)

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The COVID Project

The record

Jurisdiction
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (statewide) · Massachusetts
Level
Court
Authority
SJC 'superintendence and rule-making authority' (recited); Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, § 3
Issued
2021-07-01 July 1, 2021
Effective
2021-07-12
End
2024-01-01 (rescinded by order of Nov. 1, 2023), with paragraph 6 continuing for juries empaneled before that date (read as 2024-01-01)
In force
July 12, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2024
Quarters
2021 Q3
Limitation types
Gathering capCourts and public offices
Addressees
  • all Massachusetts state courts
  • litigants and counsel
  • jurors
Functions reached
  • CT courts and agencies (Q3 2021: a COVID-19 court-operations order in force in every Massachusetts court from July 12, 2021)
  • SV servicing and collections (civil jury trials altered)
Collection
State courts AGY-ST-COURTS

Operative words

In view of the guidance for vaccinated and unvaccinated persons recently issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Governor's lifting of the State of Emergency... the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), pursuant to its superintendence and rule-making authority, issues the following ORDER:... 6. Jury trials. Phase 3 of the resumption of jury trials in Massachusetts state courts will end on July 9, 2021. Thereafter there will be no further COVID-19-related limitations or restrictions on where and how jury trials are conducted, except as provided in this Order... Notwithstanding any rule to the contrary, until further order of the SJC:... (b) civil cases in the Superior Court and Housing Court that typically would be tried to juries of twelve... shall be tried to juries of six, with or without the consent of the parties

Enforcement

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, § 3 (superintendence); order binding on all state courts

Notes

The SJC's own page shows the order was 'Entered July 1, 2021, effective July 12, 2021; Amended December 31, 2021' and rescinded only from January 1, 2024.

Retrieval note

Rendered from the SJC's live rules page (mass.gov refused the other page renders); the text read is the order as amended, with the amendment history stated on the page.

A record of The COVID Project. The instrument's text is the source's; the summary fields are The COVID Project's reading of it. Not legal advice.