Downtown LA courthouses are virus hotspots, some lawyers say

LOS ANGELES -- Gathering outside the Stanley Mosk courthouse in downtown Los Angeles Friday, a group of lawyers and litigants demanded Presiding Judge Kevin C. Brazile suspend jury trials and postpone eviction proceedings until the COVID-19 health crisis is over.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Super spreader courts!" the crowd of about 50 people chanted.

Amid a surge in infections and the unconfirmed revelation that seven judges at the Stanley Mosk courthouse and three at the Metropolitan courthouse south of downtown tested positive for Covid-19 last month, a coalition of public interest lawyers from Public Counsel, Court Watch and the Eviction Defense Network wrote a letter to Brazile Tuesday, urging him to further restrict court operations and better prioritize the types of matters being heard.

"People facing domestic violence, people requesting temporary restraining orders, cases involving juvenile defendants, family court, we understand those cases need to go forward right now, but they need to go forward safely," coalition attorney Stephano Medina of the Eviction Defense Network said outside the court Friday. "Instead what we are seeing are petty misdemeanors, instead what we are seeing are meritless eviction cases, instead what we're seeing is traffic court."

The coalition says elevators and hallways are overcrowded, bathrooms are not routinely disinfected, and potential jurors are not screened for exposure until voir dire.

"If jury trials were too unsafe to resume in July 2020, then they are far too unsafe to resume now," the letter reads, referring to the surge in cases which the county health department says has risen to a five-day average of 4,000, compared to the 2,900 in July.

Responding to the mounting concerns, Brazile issued a general order last week, clamping down on public access to the court and prohibiting people from gathering within six feet. The order requires members of the public to obtain prior permission to enter the court if not directly involved in a proceeding and restricts the number of cases that can be heard.

"Despite a general order requiring the use of face masks and social distancing mandates, attorneys, litigants and others routinely remove their masks and fail to observe social distancing while in our courthouses," Brazile said in a statement last week. "The court finds that these new controls are necessary to maintain access to justice safely while balancing the right of public access to proceedings, freedom of the press and public health considerations during a pandemic."

Legal fellow Rebecca Brown of Court Watch LA called the order a "toothless PR move" and said many of the restrictions mentioned in the new order were already in place.

Brown, who fields phone calls for the Court Watch tip line, said the court has not been transparent enough about potential infection rate amongst court staff.

"It took two weeks for them to publicly make available in the depths of a county website that there are seven Covid cases in the courthouses." Brown said. "They need to take proactive and responsive steps when there are confirmed Covid cases."

While the county website appears to indicate that court staff have been infected, Superior Court communications director Ann Donlan said she could not confirm whether those who tested positive were judges or other staff.

"The Court does not comment on Covid-19 test results of bench officers or court staff due to personal privacy rights and statutory limitations," Donlan said in an email Friday. "The Court tracks potential exposures as well as those that return confirmed. Persons suspected of having had close contact with the exposed individual are notified and informed of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health quarantine guidance. The Court follows CDC and DPH guidelines and any other mandates on reporting."

Brazile has indicated on numerous occasions he still expects civil jury trials to resume next month.