Clark County, WA Courts Affected by COVID-19 Coronavirus

How Clark County Courts are Affected by Coronavirus COVID-19

District Court Issues Emergency Order

This morning Clark County issued new guidelines for court operations during the Coronavirus outbreak. Clark County District Court has suspended most of their proceedings. Those with current pending charges who have a court date in March or April will have their court hearing rescheduled until after May 1, 2020. The changes include:

  • Any out-of-custody criminal hearings including mandatory pre trial hearings, review hearings, change of pleas and arraignments are rescheduled after April 30, 2020 and summons will be sent with the new hearing date
  • All criminal trials will be rescheduled after April 30, 2020 and civil trials rescheduled after June 30, 2020.
  • Petitions for anti-harassment and stalking orders along with review of active no-contact orders will still be held as currently scheduled.
  • The court will attempt to conduct telephonic hearings whenever feasible and failure to appear for those hearings will be treated like failing to appear for a court date.
  • In-custody cases will be handled via video conference.

The full order on Clark County District Court operations can be read here.

Superior Court Emergency Order

Clark County Superior Court published a similar emergency order suspending most of their hearings.

  • Out-of-custody criminal hearings except arraignments, supervised release hearings, change of pleas and sentencing, between March 16 and April 26, will be cancelled.
  • Anyone scheduled to appear by summons in Superior Court between March 16 and April 24, do not need to appear.
  • All civil and family law matters will be encouraged to appear by phone.

The full order on Clark County Superior Court operations can be read here.

If you have a pending court hearing, call the court or your attorney to verify your hearing time.

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