Wonder
Sign up
Log in
Research Outline
Prepared for Jake S. | Delivered August 14, 2020
Video Conferencing Apps in US Courts
Review your project details
Goals
To get a list of 3 cities that have moved housing courts to online video conferencing (with basic resources / evidence) and information on joining atleast three housing court hearings remotely.
View less
Early Findings
Our background research on the topic unveiled the following information:
Cleveland
Magistrates in The
Cleveland Housing Court
are using Zoom, a video conferencing app, for most of the court hearings; however, the court is concerned about the fact that these video conference hearings can only be attended by the parties and are not accessible to the general public.
"
First-term Housing
Court Judge, W. Moná Scott," clarified that the court staff is working on finding solutions to the issue, and live streaming is one of the possible solutions that they have thought of.
Detroit
The Housing Court of
Detroit
is also conducting pre-trial hearings on zoom for the tenants and landlords. These hearings are also not accessible to the general public.
Austin
Texas Supreme Court
is also planning to use Zoom for eviction hearings and pre trial hearings. However, the app will not be used for jury trials.
Courts in New York are also planning for virtual hearings for
housing cases.
Public Access to Hearings
"In
New York City
, anyone wanting to see a hearing has to go to the courthouse and watch on a screen there, possibly risking contagion."
"In Los Angeles and Miami, officials have not given
court watchers
a way to join their courts’ video conferences."
"In
New Orleans
, access has depended on individual judges, with some being more reliable than others."
Summary of Findings
Our research was able to provide the names of three cities that are conducting housing court hearings online on Zoom. However, we were unable to provide information on joining housing court hearings remotely because it requires permissions from individual judges. The Zoom link and meeting ID/password for these hearings will only be given to people who have obtained permission from the judge.
View less