Courts work to recover after Helene’s destruction

Several western North Carolina counties are in various stages of restoring court operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and the state’s Supreme Court is extending deadlines lawyers face for filings and actions.

The North Carolina Judicial Branch’s website page that tracks the status of seven affected county courthouses showed Friday morning that one is back to normal, others face delays and one has a long journey to recovery. The site did not list complete information for all of the counties.

Ashe County was likely faring the best. As of 8 a.m. Friday, its courthouse was open, the website says, and civil and criminal District Courts and civil Superior Court sessions were operating. The criminal session of Superior Court was canceled.

Avery County sessions of civil and criminal District Court have been canceled for this week.

Madison County, whose courthouse was flooded by the French Broad River, will not hold court this week, Magistrate Timothy Cantrell said in a telephone interview. Tentative plans call for court to be held starting Nov. 4 at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service office at 248 Carolina Lane, Marshall. and for some matters such as first appearance hearings to be held at the sheriff’s office in the interim.

For information about emergency hearings in Madison County, the website directs attorneys to call Evan Redmond at 828-434-0721.

Up-to-date information for McDowell County was not available.

Mitchell County‘s notice is succinct: “Closed until further notice due to flooding,” it reads. “The infrastructure for much of Mitchell County is gone, currently resulting in the Mitchell County Courthouse and all of its offices being closed for the intermediate future. Likely, until the end of October or the beginning of November 2024.”

Again, the website lists Redmond as the contact for emergency hearings.

Watauga County’s court buildings and sessions were open, the website says; however, jurors will not need to appear for criminal Superior Court sessions the week of Oct. 21.

In Yancey County, civil and criminal District Court sessions were canceled for this week, and civil Superior Court was canceled for the week of Oct. 21, the website says.

Supreme Court’s action

Recognizing the effects of the storm on the judicial system, the North Carolina Supreme Court has extended deadlines that lawyers face, an order dated Friday says.

Citing N.C.G.S. § 7A-39(b)(1), Chief Justice Paul Newby said he has determined “that catastrophic conditions resulting from severe weather and flooding have existed and continue to exist” in 13 counties: Avery, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga and Yancey.

Covering civil, criminal, estate and special proceedings, the order extends deadlines for filing documents and for court actions that were due from Sept. 26 to Oct. 28 to the close of business Oct. 28.

Newby also left some discretion to local officials.

“Considering the severity of the conditions in certain counties of our State, I urge local judicial officials to exercise their own authority to grant additional relief and accommodations as necessary to protect courthouse personnel and the public while honoring the Judicial Branch’s commitment to open courts and the prompt administration of impartial justice,” Newby wrote in the order.