From the The Detroit News, March 30, 2005
Documents go back 10 years. Information of personal nature is still blocked from viewing
Access to public information just got a little easier in the city.
The 38th District Court, the first district court in the state to offer e-filing of lawsuits, has expanded that service to include inputting case information online.
"It's an outgrowth of the e-filing (system); the same technology infrastructure is in place," said court administrator Lori Shemka.
The court fields many calls from people wanting to know things like when a case was filed or when hearings are scheduled. Now they can get the information online, she said.
"(Now) they can access it themselves, and they can access it 24-7," Shemka said. "They're going to be looking at the same information as clerks are at the District Court."
Attorneys like Brian Calandra appreciate being able to view case information online.
"It makes it very nice for us because we file a pleading electronically and rather than creating 150 copies of it for each defendant ... we file it online and all those defendants go online and get their own copy," he said. "I can't even estimate how much money (we're) saving."
Calandra, an Eastpointe resident who works for Farmington Hills-based law firm Mazur & Kittel PLLC, also manages properties for his father and has researched prospective tenants by searching the Macomb Circuit Court database to see if they have ever been sued.
"I can hop online and see what their litigation history is," he said. "It's definitely valuable because you can investigate their background."
Only public information can be viewed online. Personal information, such as birth dates and driver's license numbers, have been blocked to protect against identity theft. Case files are viewable online going back 10 years, including those filed in Eastpointe Municipal Court, before it became a district court, said Shemka.
Case information is available by following links at "www.38thdistrictcourt.com"
"We walk people through the process," Shemka said. "If you can search for a book on Amazon.com, you can search for a case."
The 38th District Court began accepting electronic filing of general civil lawsuits in November 2004 and started taking traffic ticket payments online in January 2005.
Comments