Clark County makes switch to e-filing
Clark County has become the second county to have its trial courts use electronic filing.
Clark County has become the second county to have its trial courts use electronic filing.
A Lawrence County schoolteacher who lost her job after she fell victim to heroin addiction is emblematic of Indiana’s problem-solving courts that Chief Justice Loretta Rush said are helping communities statewide deal with a crippling drug crisis.
Six Indiana counties — Clark, Harrison, Henry, St. Joseph, Shelby and Wells — will be joining Hamilton County in implementing e-filing in the trial courts during the first half of 2016, with more to come later.
Indiana's top courts are pushing ahead with adopting an electronic-filing system that state officials say will eventually give the public free access to online court records statewide.
Beginning Jan. 4, all three of Indiana’s appellate courts will accept electronic filing. Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush signed an order Wednesday announcing the Tax Court’s addition to the e-filing project.
An Indiana-based e-filing company offering service enhancements is the first certified alternative provider for the state trial and appellate courts’ fledgling electronic filing program.
The e-filing pilot project that kicked off in Hamilton County in July will now include the Indiana Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Chief Justice Loretta Rush signed an order Friday expanding the project to the appellate courts beginning Monday.
Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush will meet with Hamilton County court staff, clerks, judges and attorneys Wednesday morning to congratulate them on being the first county to implement e-filing as part of a statewide measure.
Most new civil cases in Hamilton Circuit and Superior courts may be e-filed for the first time beginning July 29, and state courts will continue to announce online the schedules for other counties to switch to e-filing.
Lawyers will have to file electronically in all Indiana state courts by the end of 2018, according to a plan overseen by Supreme Court Justice Steven David and Court of Appeals Judge Paul Mathias. Hamilton County will get the ball rolling in a few weeks.
Tyler Technologies Inc., which contracts with the Indiana judiciary to provide the Odyssey case management system to courts around the state, has been selected as the vendor that will manage statewide e-filing in trial courts.
Indiana courts are asking lawmakers to allocate an additional $5 million a year so they can implement an electronic filing system that allows litigants to submit paperwork online and gives the public free access to court records.
In her first State of Judiciary speech, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush on Wednesday said the judiciary is “currently working on the development of a business court model focused on complex commercial litigation,” and urged the General Assembly to help fund the courts’ electronic filing initiative.
Lawyers will be able to file state court cases and motions with the ease of clicking a button beginning next year. Getting to that point won’t be so simple.
Indiana courts will switch to electronic filing beginning next year, according to an order issued Thursday by the Indiana Supreme Court.