Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O. X X V I I L AW A s the COVID-19 pandemic arrived then began altering virtually every corner of work and home life, Maine's civil litigation system adjusted, doing much of the initial work, like depo- sitions, by video conference. But jury trials were shut down in March, and it's there cases are hitting a wall. ere's a backlog of more than 6,000 criminal cases on the state's dockets, which means lower-priority civil trials won't get their day in court any time soon. "at's a huge deal for our clients," says Craig Bramley, managing director of Berman & Simmons. "I know of multiple cases that are just sitting there." No number is available for the amount of civil trials waiting for a court date — cases move through the system differently than criminal ones — but people haven't stopped filing lawsuits, and the number is growing. e inability to resolve cases is felt keenly, Bramley says. "Every time we take on a case, we're taking responsibility to work on behalf of that client. What we're representing them on is often the worst thing that's happened in their life. We recognize that the case is incredibly important to our client, and we take that obligation seriously." Christian Lewis, an attorney at Hardy, Wolfe & Downing and president of the Maine Trial Lawyers Association, says the backlog has ripple effects on the economy, as business, probate, real estate and other disputes stall. ose involved understand that the bottleneck isn't anyone's fault. "But they want their day in court, and they have the right to that," Lewis says. Creative solutions sought Normal liability cases go through months of discov- ery, including depositions, and then are scheduled in Superior Court. e case eventually lands on a jury trial list that goes back about nine months. "at's a long timeline, and the last thing that someone involved in one of these cases wants is to make it even longer," Bramley says. Civil cases were originally due to resume Nov. 9, but that's been put off. Criminal jury trials are slowly starting up first, a higher priority because of the constitutional right to a speedy trial. Depending on the pandemic and how quickly the criminal backlog is resolved, it could be well into next year, or longer, before civil jury trials are convened, those in the system say. Berman & Simmons, along with the Maine Trial Lawyers Association and Maine Bar Association, as well as individual lawyers and law firms, is explor- ing ways to take care of some of the issues. "How can we look for new ideas and help the court envision different ways of doing it?" Bramley says. Small rooms, lots of people So far, the answer seems to be there's no good answer. For instance, video trials have been discussed, but a key aspect of a trial is that the jury gets a good look at who's testifying and weighs their credibil- ity. at's harder to do on Zoom. In person won't necessarily solve that — it's also hard to do when everyone's wearing a mask, attorneys say. Most of the state's courtrooms are small, says Dan Mitchell, co-chair of Bernstein Shur's litiga- tion and dispute resolution group. "Fine if you want to move a lot of cases through the system. Not fine if you want to space people out." F O C U S N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 2 0 22 Craig Bramley, managing director at Berman & Simmons, outside their office in Portland P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY What we're representing them on is often the worst thing that's happened in their life. We recognize that the case is incredibly important to our client. — Craig Bramley Managing partner, Berman & Simmons The OUT jury is With civil jury trials at a standstill, attorneys look for ways to ease the backlog B y M a u r e e n M i l l i k e n

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