Stay (of proceedings)

Stay

A "stay" is an order by a judge to another judge to stop/halt proceedings in a different court.  For example, when a person files for bankruptcy, federal law automatically operates to stop all proceedings in all other courts across the country (subject to a few exceptions).  Another example is when a member of the armed forces is deployed overseas and there is a court case happening back home: the Civil Servicemembers Relief Act allows that person to get a stay on proceedings until they have a fair chance to come to the jurisdiction to defend their interests.  

Sometimes a stay is entered from a higher court and imposed upon a lower court to stop the enforcement of a certain judicial order.  A lower court judge might decide to enter an injunction, but the lower court may have misapplied the law and the higher court enters a stay of the order until the full-fledged appeal can be completed.

Give our office a call if you are subject to a stay in your proceedings or think you may need assistance with something like this.  You can contact our office by visiting our Contact Us page.