Effective April 1, 2020, the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, has enacted a new policy requiring a showing of good cause for all extensions of time, including a first request.

As regular practitioners before Division One of the Arizona Court of Appeals are aware, the Court has routinely granted first extensions of time with minimal explanation of the basis of the request.  Effective April 1, 2020, parties will be required to demonstrate good cause for all extension requests, including a first request, and under the new policy “[c]onclusory statements asserting ‘scheduling conflicts’ or ‘other work’ will not constitute good cause.”  The Court also clarified that it will no longer accept emailed extension requests in criminal cases.  Any practitioner seeking an extension request in a Division One case should carefully review the Court’s new extension policies before doing so.

The Court has also issued separate guidance for extension requests in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  The Court has clarified that given the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court’s emergency declaration relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, good faith requests for extension of time-related to the Coronavirus will be considered good cause.