Two years subsequent to the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hamilton County, Ohio, remains mired in a build-up of unresolved civil cases. According to Bloomberg Law, every instance in which the county—home to Cincinnati—attempted to reintroduce jury trials, Covid would surge again, disrupting the process.
“So we tried to bring back juries and we had to stop them. We brought them back again, and then we had to stop them,” said Christopher A. Wagner, the administrative judge for Hamilton County’s Common Pleas Court, detailing the cycles of stop and start.
Regrettably, Hamilton County is not an isolated case. The judiciary systems across the United States are wrestling with comparable backlogs instigated by the pandemic turmoil, with Hamilton County recorded as having the largest over-age rate amongst sizable counties.
Also, significantly, the lack of definitive trial dates has impeded settlement initiatives, prolonging the time required to resolve these pending cases. As such, the clearing of the pandemic-driven backlog of civil cases in Ohio courts, and indeed across the whole country, continues to be a slow and painstaking process.