Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, attorney Daniel Kramer was preparing for a 2021 trial in a case involving an injured electrician. Courtrooms across the nation shut down, including in California, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Mooney kept Kramer’s case on track, moving forward with a trial that ended this month in a $12.6 million verdict.

Although everyone wore masks, jurors sat in the jury box, and they deliberated in the deliberations room, just as in pre-pandemic times. And nobody asked to be excused for fear of being exposed to COVID-19.