Court Closures Loom as France Tightens COVID-19 Containment Measures

The French justice minister, Nicole Belloubet, announced Friday evening that a plan to limit court pleadings to “emergency” civil and criminal cases was ready to be launched as part of official efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 in France.

Belloubet cited the possibility of high levels of absenteeism by court officers due in part to new measures, such as school closures, announced Thursday by President Emmanuel Macron, but also due to illness and quarantine. Two employees of the Justice Ministry in Dijon and Beziers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, she said.

“The justice system must meet the challenge of ensuring its mission,” Belloubet said.

France’s response to the coronavirus pandemic stepped up Thursday night when Macron, in a televised address to the nation, announced the closure of all schools, universities and day care centers as of Monday until further notice. He also promised financial support—“whatever it takes”—and streamlined procedures to help French businesses of all sizes make it through the crisis.

On Friday, the government announced a ban on public gatherings of more than 100 people, tightening a ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people announced at the beginning of the week.

The Justice Ministry’s coronavirus plan, Belloubet said Friday, had been in the works for several days and was part of the ministry’s “plan de continuité d’activité,” or business continuity plan. Under French law, all public and private enterprises are obliged to have such a plan to ensure smooth functioning under crisis conditions.

Under the plan, activity would be limited “to civil emergencies, for example, situations where women or children are in immediate danger, and to criminal cases for persons who need to be brought up for immediate trial,” Belloubet said.

The Court of Appeal of Douai, in northern France, was said to be preparing Friday to announce that audiences would be suspended in the lower courts in its jurisdiction, according to a Paris-based litigator. Those courts include commercial, civil, criminal and labor courts.

“There is reason to believe that other appeals courts will do the same. We will know more in the days to come,” the lawyer wrote in an email that was shown to Law.com International.

France has 31 appeals courts on the mainland and six in its overseas departments and territories, such as Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Lawyers told Law.com International that many court cases had already been continued because of the lawyers’ strike over pension reform that began in January. They also said they wouldn’t be surprised to see courts limit the number of people allowed into hearing rooms.

But closing all courts, especially commercial courts, would be a drastic measure, they said, since in times of economic crisis, businesses need to turn to the courts for financial remedies.

“The courts are like hospitals for businesses,” Marie Danis, a litigation, arbitration and white-collar crime partner at August Debouzy in Paris, said Friday. “And with the prospects of companies struggling because of coronavirus, there are likely to be many more such cases.”