Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the San Diego Superior Court’s closure from March 17-May 22, all hearings on civil motions set in an Independent Calendar Department have been vacated through the end of the year and may need to be re-scheduled by the moving parties.

All San Diego Superior Court locations will be closed on Monday, June 1, 2020.

With San Diego County Sheriff’s Department personnel expected to be working throughout this evening and potentially needed elsewhere tomorrow, the Court’s usual security and screening services will be unavailable.

Please monitor the Court’s website at sdcourt.ca.gov and follow @SDSuperiorCourt on Twitter for updates.

Due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, jury trials are suspended through June 15, 2020.

Currently, no jurors have been summoned for dates past May 23, 2020. Individuals who deferred jury service to a date between May 26 – June 12, 2020, will not need to report, and jury service will be considered complete.

Anyone who deferred their jury service for a date after June 12, 2020, please monitor the Court’s website for additional information.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Diego Superior Court has been closed for most non-emergency services from March 17 through May 22. On Tuesday, May 26, the Court will resume many services, though most will be provided remotely. With the community spread of COVID-19 still a concern, in-person services at the courthouses will continue to be limited to urgent needs.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Diego Superior Court has been closed for most non-emergency services from March 17 through May 22. More than 87,000 hearings from that timeframe and on the calendar for the coming months will need to be re-scheduled.

In the interest of the health and safety of all Court visitors and employees, re-scheduled hearings will be handled remotely wherever possible. The process will vary for each case type and details for the manner of appearance will be included in the re-scheduling notices that will be sent to involved parties.

In observance of the Memorial Day statewide holiday, the San Diego Superior Court will close all courtrooms and business offices on Monday, May 25, 2020.

The public is urged to visit the Court’s website at sdcourt.ca.gov to handle traffic tickets or obtain court information.

The San Diego Superior Court will shut down its website (sdcourt.ca.gov) for routine maintenance on Saturday, May 9 from 6:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The website closure will affect all San Diego Superior Court webpages.

In the on-going effort to mitigate community spread of COVID-19, and in the interest of the health and safety of all Court visitors and employees, the San Diego Superior Court has received approval from the Judicial Council of California to extend the suspension of all non-emergency services through May 22, 2020. The Court will be closed in observance of Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, making the revised planned re-opening date Tuesday, May 26.

The San Diego Superior Court will begin hearing a few in-custody matters through videoconference on Monday, April 6. In cooperation with the Sheriff’s department, Public Defender’s office, defense counsel and the District Attorney’s office, video appearances will connect detainees in each of the County’s detention centers with courtrooms in the Central, North, South and East County Courthouses. The Court will test the new remote video system next week with the anticipation that preliminary hearings and arraignments will proceed by video in the coming weeks.

I have requested an emergency extension from the California Supreme Court Chief Justice for the San Diego Superior Court to remain closed through April 30, 2020. I have every reason to believe this request will be granted and thus, our Court will not be open for regular court business on Monday, April 6, 2020.

Organizations offering free help with emergency court services will continue to provide services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Court works with the Judicial Council of California, State Bar of California, San Diego County Bar Association, and local service providers to assist people in need of selfrepresented services. This includes clinic services in areas of law such as restraining orders and landlord-tenant disputes within San Diego’s courthouses.

In light of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye’s statewide Order allowing for a two-month suspension of jury trials, the San Diego Superior Court is dismissing all summoned jurors through May 22, 2020. These actions are done in the interest of community health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The San Diego Superior Court will completely close for all services during Cesar Chavez Day, March 31, 2020, and will reopen to continue providing only emergency services on April 1, 2020.

The San Diego Superior Court has added to the list of time-sensitive, essential functions that are available to provide additional emergency services during the COVID-19 Court Service Suspension. Effective March 24, 2020, the additional following services are now available:

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 light of the Public Health Department’s weekend guidance of no more than 50 people in a room, the San Diego Superior Court is now asking all County residents summoned to appear the week of March 16th -19th in the Superior Court not to come to the courthouse. “Our community’s health is important to us all and while we had COVID-19 procedures in place to provide enough social distancing for summoned jurors in our jury services room, having a jury pool of 50 people will not provide us with enough people for fair trials,” says San Diego Superior Court Presiding Judge Lorna Alksne.

In an effort to promote the health and safety of court users and employees as well as 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:

EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BELOW, THE COURT WILL BE CLOSED FOR:

CRIMINAL

• All criminal proceedings including arraignments, readiness, pre-trial motions, trials and sentencing.

CIVIL

The San Diego Superior Court has developed procedures to ensure it is following the recommendations of State and County Public Health officials to ensure a safe environment for employees and Court users and to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The measures include: 

San Diego’s North County Superior Court continues its tradition of bringing students to the courthouse to talk about modern issues and their legal consequences during the 19th Annual Youth in Court Day. The event, sponsored by the North County Division of the San Diego Superior Court in conjunction with the North County Bar Assocation and The Lawyer Referral Service, will be held on Friday, March 6, 2020. More than 900 students are expected to attend the day-long event where they will be introduced to the court system to learn about present day problems that pass through the courthouse.