The coronavirus is not in court. It is difficult for anyone without a lawyer.

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WASHINGTON – Russell Crawford is a 50-year-old father who currently lives in the Detroit suburbs and is scheduled to appear in court on April 8 to hear his son's parenting arrangements with his son's mother. When the court restricted public access in March due to a coronavirus pandemic, the hearing was postponed.

Crawford, who does not have a lawyer, told Heaven32 News that he was trying to find out if there was a way to solve the problem remotely at the same time, or if the court considered his case an emergency and held a hearing. He worked at the Ford Motor Company and said he was temporarily laid off during the pandemic. He said he had called the court and had spent four hours waiting for the call before being transferred to the poor service.

He said that under normal circumstances, he would seek help from the court. I was afraid of trying to testify and doing something wrong. Her fiance peep He was asked about his case on Michigan's third circuit and asked how to conduct an emergency hearing, but received no response.

"You can deposit and pay. If you find an error, you can ignore it. So I went to get help to make sure everything was working properly," said Crawford.

State authorities and local courts in the United States are fighting to maintain the civil justice system, but the courts have been closed. This means ensuring that people who cannot afford a lawyer can continue to use the legal system, which was a huge challenge before the pandemic.

Most people who go to court to resolve disputes regarding child support payments, tenant eviction orders or restraining orders for aggressors do it themselves. Persons who ultimately appear in court in civil cases do not enjoy the constitutional protection rights of lawyers as in criminal cases. According to a 2015 report from the National Center of the National Court of Justice, in civil disputes, at least one of the parties does not have a lawyer in three-quarters of the cases, and this number is higher in cases involving litigants. Income.

The move to remote operations has in some ways exacerbated the legal vacuum that lawyers and legal aid judges have said they could barely resolve before. As the court is closed or operating on bones to limit the spread of the coronavirus, unrepresented lawyers will no longer rely on personal assistance provided by the court, such as resource centers equipped by court employees and lawyers legal aid. .

During the pandemic, courts put information and operations online, which also created barriers to access. Relying on the online system can not only educate people about the electronic filing system, but also have a computer and the Internet at home. The court uses teleconferences and video platforms [such as Zoom] for the hearings, but it still requires a computer or smartphone, and people are expected to be able to pay for an Internet connection or the required talk time, with millions of Los Americans are unemployed and the problem will only get worse and try to pay the bills.

All of this presupposes that the court provides instructions and documents in a sufficiently ordinary language and in several languages ​​so that litigants can determine what documents they must present and how to present them at home.

"In one of the biggest crises facing our country, the justice system and legal solutions are almost on the table," said Katherine Alteneder, counsel to the self-representation litigation network. National Organization of Legal Aid Providers.

Before the pandemic, an average of 10,000 people passed the District of Columbia Superior Court of Justice every day. Supreme Court President Robert Morin said that since the court began restricting personal visits to the court in March, the number of applications in civil cases has decreased. You are concerned that this may be due to the fact that people do not know how to do business at home or alone. No technology

Morin said, "This is what left me sleepless all night." "This means that people's legal problems have been miraculously resolved or that people believe that they are not entitled to resort to legal proceedings."

Lawyer Law

The pandemic added new pressure to the already overburdened civil justice system. During the pandemic, most states implemented some type of eviction stay order, but renters still had to pay rent, and when the stay order was lifted, legal aid lawyers were preparing for a large number of eviction cases. A 2015 survey of legal representatives for housing-related cases published by the Poverty Institute showed that in many courts, homeowners have lawyers, while tenants do not have lawyers in 90% of cases.

John Pollock, the National League coordinator for the National League, said that in addition to the challenges of eviction without a lawyer before the pandemic, now, during the epidemic, households must go through federal, state and local offices. Mandates are filed to understand your rights. The civil rights of lawyers.

He said housing attorneys will know what questions to ask, what evidence the tenant must provide to the judge and how to determine if the landlord's mortgage is guaranteed by the federal government and is therefore covered by eviction orders. and federal eviction orders. State. .

He said: "The owner proposed an eviction that was not in accordance with federal law, but no one would know."

Melissa Picciola, director of volunteer services at the Chicago Legal Aid Society, said that because the court had delayed the hearing, the organization is responding to calls from people struggling to keep up with the matter. She said people were initially confused as to how to get emergency protection orders for domestic violence, but that was resolved.

Picciola said that he had recently called a woman and learned that her son's father had asked for a modification of the guardianship agreement in court, but that the woman was unaware of father's request and was unable to connect. access. The Cook County Circuit Court provides online litigation, but does not provide copies of documents.

Picciola said: "In general, we advise people to go to court and ask to see court documents". "I suggest you call the store clerk's office and ask if they will read it to you over the phone."

The pandemic added a new sense of urgency to the long-awaited movement, which established the right to defend oneself in certain types of civil cases. Last week, Massachusetts' democratic representative Joe Kennedy III proposed a resolution targeting those involved in "basic human needs, including health, safety, family, residence or livelihoods".

"I am not sure it will be more urgent than this time. As the last recession has shown, our civil court is manifesting one of the consequences of this enormous chaos and economic suffering". Senator Ed Markey's contest, said Kennedy.

The Kennedy resolution recognizes that it is highly dependent on state and local governments how to hire and pay a lawyer. Some cities and states have pilot projects, but the movement is moving slowly.

Kennedy's office said there was no cost estimate, but research cited shows that investing in civil legal aid can save money long-term money. A 2014 report from the Boston Bar Association found that for every dollar invested in foreclosure and foreclosure legal services, Massachusetts can save $ 2.96 on other costs, such as shelter shelters. emergency and medical care. Healthcare.

"Who are you looking for?"

When the court closed, the difficulties faced by unrepresented litigants who attempted to study the law and determine the legal proceedings themselves were evident online; some people have started tweeting in court.

María Hernández, a 44-year-old nurse in Orange, California, helps her adult son manage custody battles when the March pandemic forced the Los Angeles Superior Court to restrict public access.

Hernández told Heaven32 News that a lawyer had been hired to help her and her son understand what documents they had to submit to secure their children's access rights, the cost was too high and how to do it. Usually she will go to court for help, but this is not an option. He called the court and said he was asked to visit the website. She found a document that seemed relevant, but the top of the document said "Notice to the Prosecutor", so she was not sure if the document was applicable.

Frustrated, she peep Questions asked in court. She said she still didn't know what to do.

Hernandez said last week in a phone interview with Heaven32 News: "You can't find any answer." "What are you doing? Who are you looking for?"

Jorge Alverz, a 29-year-old retail worker in Miami, said he was unemployed due to the pandemic, peep On behalf of the Miami Dade County judicial system in late April. He said he made several attempts to call the court for information on filing for a divorce, but each time to disconnect the phone line. Alverz, gay marriage, told Heaven32 News that he did not know how to deal with divorce forms using the terms "husband" and "wife" on the court website.

He said hiring a lawyer is expensive, and when they can't deal with it, hiring someone to divorce makes it uncomfortable. He understood how to use the online chat system provided by the court, but when court staff told him to use the wrong form, he was not satisfied. He wrote his divorce petition, but has yet to file it. He said he would prefer to go to court.

"I just want to spend some time to make sure I did everything right. The cost of filing for a divorce is $ 409. Even for me, meanwhile, the money is now a lot. I don't want to waste my money. " Because these documents will be rejected, "he said.

Numeric fraction

Linda Singer Stein, administrative judge in the civil division of the county court of the eleventh Florida court covering Miami-Dade County, said that when the justice system started operating online, the judicial authorities were already trying to anticipate the need to represent the litigants themselves during the pandemic. On Monday, the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court released a new guide for self-represented judges, staff, lawyers and litigants regarding pandemic proceedings.

Stein said the court used Zoom for the hearings because the platform allows people to call without being able to record videos. Judge staff encouraged the prosecutions that interacted with them to register on the e-filing website and send hearing reminders by email and mail. She said the court was preparing to set up a system for sending reminders by SMS.

Stan said, "We are doing everything we can to get everyone to have a full audition."

Authorities at the Los Angeles Superior Court tried to make the site easy to use. The court provides a weekday self-help hotline and launches a new online program to help self-appointed agents like Hernandez and his son resolve custody and other legal issues at home.

Alteneder said the "digital divide" is not a new problem for the legal system, but that court officials and legal aid organizations can rely on alternative solutions in the past . Even if people don't have a computer or Internet at home, they can use the computer and printer in court or in a public library or at a friend's house or a family member. However, these options have disappeared due to the closure of libraries and other public buildings and demands for full-time accommodation which limit activities.

The court is faced with several technical shortcomings, such as ensuring that the case can be edited on a smartphone, as this may be the only way for litigants to access the Internet.

Legal aid organizations that previously provided legal services to the court are currently exploring ways to contact family members. Stephanie Troyer, supervising lawyer in the family law and family violence department of the legal aid district, said that at the Superior Court in Washington, DC, the Family Law Resource Center within the court quickly switched to a telephone system. Now if someone calls the family court or the domestic violence department, they will be transferred to the resource center hotline. She said that people can ask questions and get forms that can be edited online. If they still need a lawyer, they will be referred to the network of legal aid lawyers.

Troyer hopes that because the court allows people to file non-emergency incidents, even if the judge does not hold a hearing, Troyer's appeals will increase. Troyer said litigants who have received multiple notifications of postponements are working to clarify the status of the case.