March 17, 2020

This Notice follows the Sacramento Superior Court’s Notice of Partial Court Closures issued on March 16, 2020.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared a world pandemic and the federal government has declared a national state of emergency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State Department of Public Health, the Sacramento County Public Health Officer, and other governmental entities have recommended and/or directed the implementation of social distancing, reductions in the number of people gathering, social isolation of at-risk age and health groups, and other significant measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 and to lessen the effect of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 virus poses an unprecedented health and safety threat to the public. Due to the increasing risks presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity for additional and significant measures to protect the health and safety of our community, including court personnel, court operations shall be reduced to critical proceedings only as set forth in the General Order of the Presiding Judge, dated March 17, 2020. The court shall continue to handle critical proceedings occurring in criminal, general civil, family, probate, juvenile delinquency and dependency and other identified areas. Please refer to the General Order for specific details. Judicial officers and minimum court staff required to perform critical functions shall continue to work. All other cases, including any other scheduled hearings and matters are continued to dates to be determined.

Our decision to cease court operations except those deemed critical has not been made lightly. We have made this decision with due consideration to the increasing measures necessary to protect the health and safety of our community and court personnel, as well as the importance for all courts to ensure access to justice, protect due process, and provide a forum for the orderly resolution of disputes under law. We remain committed to serving the people of Sacramento County and through the uninterrupted handling of critical proceedings, the court will continue to serve the most immediate needs of the most vulnerable in our community including the elderly, children, victims of domestic violence, those whose life and liberty are at stake. We look forward to restoring our Court to full operational status as soon as possible.

View the full notice here. 

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