Opinion
18 Civ. 7136 (GWG)
03-15-2022
KEVIN DOOLEY Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Defendants.
ORDER
GABRIEL W. GORENSTEIN, United States Magistrate Judge
The bench trial will take place as scheduled on March 28, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 6-B. The courtroom will be open starting at 9:00 a.m. and counsel should arrive at that time to set up. Counsel should carefully review paragraphs 4 through 14 of the Order dated April 15, 2021 (Docket #49). If counsel seek to play any videos or show any other items on a screen, they must contact the Court's Audio/Visual Department at (212) 805-0134 (see https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/court-tech) in advance of trial to arrange for a projection device to be placed in the Courtroom. Counsel should consult with each other before contacting the Audio/Visual Department so that only one request is made. Counsel bringing in electronic equipment of any kind (including cellphones) must obtain an order as described at in paragraph 1.G of the Court's Individual Practices (for the form, see: https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/forms/fillable-form-electronic-devices-general-purpose).
If counsel so stipulate, the electronic version of an exhibit previously submitted to the Court may be offered into evidence in lieu of a paper copy. However, counsel should be sure to have a paper version of any exhibit if there is any possibility that the document will need to be presented to a witness.
Attorneys, staff, visitors and witnesses must comply with the Court's current COVID Courthouse entry requirements, available at https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/covid-19-coronavirus. The current restrictions on entry are expressed in documents dated December 21 and 22, 2021.
As to conduct inside the Courtroom, the following is the S.D.N.Y.'s current protocol:
All individuals in public spaces in the courthouse must wear an N95, KN95 or KF94 mask at all times, except judges while speaking on the bench, witnesses while testifying, and attorneys while speaking from a podium in a courtroom. Judges and testifying witnesses still should not be unmasked at the same time.
All individuals are required to maintain a three-foot distance in the courtroom and in spaces adjacent to the courtroom, such as the robing room, with the exception that fully vaccinated and boosted individuals do not have to maintain any distance while seated at counsel table.
SO ORDERED.