Coroners Court: COVID-19 Past Alert Level 4 Protocol

Contents

6 April 2020: Update
25 March 2020: Protocol during Alert Level 4

Update

Chief Coroner Deborah Marshall
6 April 2020

Coroners have postponed all inquests for the 4 weeks of the Alert Level 4 lockdown.  They also stopped setting dates for future inquests in case the lockdown was extended.

If the lockdown is extended we will be looking at which inquests can proceed by remote participation.

All pre-inquest hearings can conducted by teleconference or virtual hearing.  Any applications for non-publication orders are generally done “on the papers.”

Protocol during Alert Level 4

Chief Coroner Deborah Marshall
25 March 2020

1.  New Zealand is at COVID-19 Alert Level 4 as of 11:59 pm 25 March 2020.

2.  Over 90 percent of the work in the Coroners Court is done in chambers.  That is, there is no public court hearing.  This includes written findings.  This work will continue as normal.

3.  All coronial hearings have been cancelled until further notice.

4.  Preparations for inquests will continue by way of teleconferences, exchange of documents and audio-visual links if necessary.

5.  During the continuation of Alert Level 4, all filing of court documents is to be by email.  If a party does not have the ability to file electronically, mail will still be periodically checked.  However, because of hygiene requirements there will be a delay in processing documents received by post.

6.  No documents will be received for filing in person at court registries.

Filing addresses

All electronic filing, or any urgent matters, should be sent to the case manager or to OfficeoftheChiefCoroner@justice.govt.nz.

All mail should be sent to your regional Coronial Services office.