Key Communications Issued
During the COVID-19 Pandemic

February 22, 2021

RE: Supreme Court Revised and Extended Court Operations Emergency Order and Order Suspending RAP 18.8(b)

Dear colleagues,

In order to refine existing emergency orders to meet current court operations, the Supreme Court revised and extended its October 13, 2020 Court Operations Order. The attached, Fifth Revised and Extended Order Regarding Court Operations, supersedes the October 13, 2020 Fourth Revised Order.

Changes to the Fifth Revised Order include:

• Paragraph 1 — revised to authorize greater use of remote processes for civil trials and other civil court proceedings as well as service and discovery
• Paragraph 2 — deleted and "reserved" in order to preserve paragraph numbering throughout the order
• Paragraph 3 — added language regarding non-emergency civil matters
• Paragraph 5 — added language outlining remote depositions and service, eliminating the need for the separate guidance previously linked to the order
• Paragraph 7 — reworded language authorizing remote proceedings in nonjury criminal cases to parallel the authorizing language in former paragraph 2 of the prior order
• Paragraph 11 — added language regarding extension of juvenile jurisdiction
• Paragraph 17 — moved language addressing where remote court proceedings are deemed to occur [formerly in paragraph 1] to the general section of the order.

The Supreme Court also entered the attached Order suspending RAP 18.8(b) through July 31, 2021 nunc pro tunc to December 1, 2020.

I hope the attached will assist in moving courts forward during these incredibly challenging times. Many thanks to all of the court professionals and justice system partners who are working tirelessly to meet these challenges, and whose input was crucial to updating these orders.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns. You can email me directly or through Caroline Tawes, caroline.tawes@courts.wa.gov.

Thank you.

Chief Justice Steve González