A number of public interest attorneys filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to halt in-person traffic and eviction trials held in Los Angeles County, claiming COVID-19 prevention protocols are failing after two court interpreters died of the virus infection in recent weeks.

The suit, brought by Public Counsel on behalf of the Inner City Law Center and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, accuses the courts of prioritizing the “continuity of non-essential operations over community safety and human life.”

“The court’s facilities are built and administered in a way that makes it impossible to maintain a safe social distance of six feet or more, particularly within crowded and poorly ventilated courtrooms and hallways. Every day, hundreds of Angelenos crowd into the County’s courthouses to enter pleas on traffic tickets or defend against eviction lawsuits,” the suit read. “Public health experts have determined that not only are these conditions unsafe and likely to result in transmission of the virus, they are ripe for a ‘super-spreader’ event.”

The recent deaths of two court interpreters — Sergio Cafaro, 56, and Daniel Felix, 66 — have infuriated court staff and attorneys, many of whom have been critical of the court system’s handling of the pandemic.

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