Coral Gables Courthouse Closed Friday

CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami) – The Coral Gables Courthouse is shutdown Friday after several employees inside the building which was recently fumigated.

All court and clerk operations at the Courthouse, located at 3100 Ponce De Leon Boulevard, were suspended Friday as a "precautionary measure" following the closure of the courthouse on Thursday afternoon. All court hearings will be canceled and re-scheduled.

"This is a precautionary measure to protect the public and all personnel who work in the building, and to make the building available to the County for any follow-up testing they may need to do on Friday," said Chief Judge Joel H. Brown.

The problem at the courthouse started Thursday afternoon when employees inside the building started feeling sick. Seven were taken to area hospitals and more than 30 others were evacuated, according to Coral Gables fire rescue officials.

It's unclear what caused the widespread illness, but the building had been fumigated for termites on Oct. 8, according to Coral Gables Division Chief Hope Gibbs.

Suzy Trutie, spokeswoman for Miami Dade, said county inspectors had thoroughly checked and cleared the building for reopening on Oct. 11.

Another advisory will be issued over the weekend regarding the status of building operations on Monday.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report.)