electronic Filing & Service for Courts

Sprinkler floods court records room

A sprinkler malfunction flooded the records division of Mobile County's Probate Court, damaging millions of pages of property records and marriage licenses.

The records will not be lost for good -- there are backup copies in Mobile and in Montgomery.

Still, court officials will ask the County Commission this morning to declare an emergency so they can hire someone to try to clean the microfilm records before they are a complete loss, Probate Judge Don Davis said.

An excellent example of why courts should much more rapidly move to electronic filing

Georgia Appellate Courts Move toward eFiling

It appears the Georgia Appellate Courts are moving toward eFiling

Looks like it will cost from $93,000 to $150,000.

The courts are using Fairfax, Va.-based TriVir as their vendor for developing the new system.

Expect the system for the GASCT to go live 1/1/2008. GACoA is unsure of live-date.

This will be interesting to follow....

Oregon Supreme Court moves toward eBriefs

Laura Orr, (a very delightful person!) reports on new rules for the filing of Briefs into the Oregon Supreme Court.

Looks like you need to still file a paper copy(ies)...but it is a start!

Update: Montgomery County Ohio

From the Dayton Daily News

"On Tuesday, county commissioners agreed to advertise for proposals for the electronic case filing system, expected to cost about $500,000.

The system would streamline records management, save file storage space, improve business practices, and reduce manual handling of files, Drubert said."

Arkansas Moves Forward with eFiling Pilot

From the Arkansas Democrat Gazette

"The Arkansas Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals soon will allow attorneys to file court documents electronically, a court spokesman said Wednesday.

The voluntary pilot program is aimed at reducing costs to the courts, the attorneys and the taxpayers, Administrative Office of the Courts spokesman Karolyn Bond said in a news release. "

..."The court’s announcement comes seven months after Appeals Court Judge Wendell Griffen complained in a decision about the massive volume of paper appellate cases consume, calling the state’s all-paper system “a living anachronism.”

Congratulations to Judge Griffen for motivating Arkansas along

Texas Editorial Calls for eFiiling

The Southeast Texas Record calls for efiling:

"It's about time Jefferson County started putting all civil court complaints and material filings online-- in real-time or close to it. The technology is available and affordable-- the federal courts have been doing this for years via PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) program-- all it takes now is some courthouse initiative and political will.

Who would want to keep our civil courts out of the public eye? We'll see soon enough."

Arkansas Moves to eBriefing

...the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals announced the creation of a pilot program for attorneys to file briefs online. The new program is to begin Sept. 1.

An exploratory committee, which recommended the new filing procedure, was instructed to develop the procedures necessary to implement the new process, according to Thursday's Supreme Court order.

The committee was also asked to develop methods for evaluating the results of the pilot program, and to make recommendations concerning the further use of electronic filing.

Here is more information from the Court

Iowa Tests Electronic Filing

The Associated Press
June 4, 2007

Two counties have been selected to test an electronic court filing system, the first step toward a paperless court system that will make all documents available to the public online.

Later this year, everyone using the court system in Story and Plymouth counties will be required to file court documents electronically.

Installation of a full electronic handling system in the two counties is expected to be completed early next year.

US Supreme Court to Mandate eBriefs?

Here is the proposed rule:

PROPOSED REVISIONS TO RULES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
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PROPOSED ADOPTION DATE: JUNE 25, 2007
PROPOSED EFFECTIVE DATE: AUGUST 1, 2007

8. An electronic version of every brief on the merits shall be transmitted
to the Clerk of Court and to opposing counsel of record at the time
the brief is filed in accordance with guidelines established by the Clerk.
The electronic transmission requirement is in addition to the
requirement that booklet-format briefs be timely filed.

[CLERK’S COMMENT: THE REVISED BRIEFING SCHEDULE RECOGNIZES THAT
THE TIME PERIOD BETWEEN THE GRANTING OF A PETITION FOR A WRIT OF
CERTIORARI AND THE DATE OF ORAL ARGUMENT HAS DECREASED IN RECENT
YEARS. THE REVISED RULE ALSO RECOGNIZES THAT TECHNOLOGICAL
IMPROVEMENTS HAVE DECREASED THE AMOUNT OF TIME NEEDED TO
PREPARE BOOKLET-FORMAT BRIEFS AND BRIEFS CAN BE READILY
TRANSMITTED ELECTRONICALLY. ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION OF BRIEFS TO
THE CLERK AND OPPOSING COUNSEL IS MANDATED BY THE REVISED RULE.
THE CHANGE EMPHASIZES THAT ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION DOES NOT
CONSTITUTE FILING.]

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What is not known is the means an attorney would use to transmit the brief to the Clerk? Also, the means the Clerk will use to search and store these digital briefs once received.

North Carolina counties to pilot efiling

State officials with the Administrative Office of the Courts selected Davidson County to participate in a pilot program that will enable lawyers to file legal documents electronically over the Internet.

Davidson, Wake and Chowan counties were selected to test the program before it's implemented in all 100 counties. Officials hope to launch the pilot program by early next year.