The McLean County courthouse will hear only the most serious and urgent cases for the next several weeks in hopes of reducing the spread of the coronavirus.
Starting Monday the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, which includes McLean County, will only hear criminal felonies, bond hearings, juvenile abuse and neglect, juvenile delinquency cases, petitions to rescind summary suspension, and any other emergency hearings as they may arise. If you do not have a case in one of these categories, do not come to court.
Traffic, small claims, and divorce cases will be delayed until a later date. Litigants will be contacted via mail about the delay.
“We want to limit the number of persons who are compelled to enter the Law and Justice Center (in Bloomington), and that certainly includes most traffic cases,” said trial court administrator Will Scanlon. “So persons who are scheduled for traffic court—there are some (Monday), but most Tuesdays and Wednesdays—for the next 28 days, we are going to be rescheduling those.”
PDF: Here is the administrative order outlining the changes in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.
The court can still accept new filings, including emergency filings, he said.
Some have called for evictions to be temporarily halted in McLean County, in hopes of partially protecting low-wage workers from the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. Through collaboration with judges, the Champaign County sheriff has suspended all court-ordered evictions through April.
Filings of evictions can still occur in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Scanlon said.
“But our ability to do hearings on evictions will be very limited. The ability of the sheriff’s office to enforce evictions will be very limited. It is going to slow evictions. It is not going to eliminate the filing of evictions. But it will certainly slow the pace considerably for the next 30 days,” Scanlon said.
The Eleventh Judicial Circuit includes Ford, Livingston, Logan, McLean and Woodford counties.
