EDVA District Court General Order No. 2020-15—In re Cessation of U.S. Courthouse in Newport News as the District’s Emergency Judicial Center

The recent outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) worldwide pandemic is impacting Federal Judiciary operations nationwide, including that of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (the “Court”). The Court’s COVID-19 page provides interested persons, including unrepresented persons, with up-to-date information regarding the Bankruptcy Court’s operations and other information that impacts the Bar of the Court, other attorneys, litigants, debtors, creditors, and the general public. Please reference this page on a regular basis for updated Court procedures and information. To promote social distancing and to place limitations on contact and movement in all Eastern District of Virginia Courthouse locations, the Court has entered a series of districtwide and division-specific orders, which will remain in effect until further notice. Given the rapidly evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, additional orders may be entered, and/or current orders modified, as the circumstances warrant. Access to the public areas of the Bankruptcy Clerk’s Office also has been impacted, as of March 30, 2020, through the temporary closing of that Office’s public areas at each division of the Court. Filings by unrepresented (“pro se”) persons via mail and package services remain unchanged. While the courthouses remain open, temporary arrangements have been made for the use of lock (“drop”) boxes by pro se persons. Temporary use of email by pro se persons for allowed filing purposes is permissible. For represented persons, however, the Court’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files (“CM/ECF”) System and Bankruptcy Orders Processing Solution (“BOPS”) must be used as they electronically remain fully operational and unchanged for use by those so authorized, as provided for in Local Bankruptcy Rule 5005-2(A) , CM/ECF Policy 1, 2(A)(1)(a) , and CM/ECF Policy 4(B) . See also CM/ECF Policy 2(A)(2)) (users with limited privileges).