Closed Courts No Barrier to New York Easing Its Case Backlog (1)

The legal system in New York, normally one of the busiest in the U.S., is starting to whittle away at the massive backlog of cases caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced indefinite shutdowns of state courts two months ago.

Since mid-April, judges have been using phone and video conferences to conduct hearings, resulting in settlements or plea agreements in about 13,000 cases, state officials said. Before then, almost all court activity had been halted by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s stay-home order in mid-March. Trials remain on hold, and there’s still a ban on filing new “non-essential” lawsuits.

But it’s ...