NYS Public Health Legal Manual: A Guide for Judges, Attorneys ...

§ 1.118 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC HEALTH LEGAL MANUAL
ble, an order pursuant to subdivision one of this section: (a) shall designate
the most proximate location in which such term of court safely and
practically can be held, without limitation based on the judicial department,
judicial district, county, city, town, village or other geographical
district for which such court was established . . . .”]; 8(2)(c) [consultation
requirements]; 8(3) [orders effective for no more than 30 days and may be
reauthorized for successive periods of no more than 30 days].
[1.118] 2. Applicable Law in Relocated Courts
Judiciary Law § 8(4) [“every action and proceeding in such [relocated]
term shall be subject to the same substantive and procedural law as would
have applied had such term not been temporarily relocated”].
[1.119] 3. Cost
Judiciary Law § 8(5) [“the costs of temporarily providing facilities
suitable and sufficient for the transaction of business of such court outside
of such county, city, town or village shall be charges upon the office of
court administration”].
Commentary
In 2009, the Legislature enacted a new section 8 of the Judiciary
Law [2009 N.Y. Laws ch. 263] to replace statutes dating back a century
that had long since faded into obsolescence. New section 8
places in both the Governor and the Chief Judge the authority to
temporarily relocate trial courts in emergencies without being constrained
by local boundaries, with the state paying the costs where
the relocation is to a different locality. Section 8(4) provides that
these relocated courts will continue to function under the same procedures
as if they had never been moved, so that a relocation may
have to address such matters as the feasibility of long-distance jury
selection.
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